You Stoll My Heart
by 27lablover
Summary: Travis saves Katie from a situation NO girl wants to be in. Will they remain frenimies or turn into something more? Warning: may have some adult content in first chapter, but isn't too serious. Please review and enjoy! BTW: This IS Tratie (you probably already figured that out).
1. An Unexpected Hero

Katie:

"Katie, why are you _always _at camp?" my mortal friend, Nikki, whines, putting on a puppy-dog face. We were walking on the streets of New York. I was on break from Camp Half-Blood, the only safe place for demigods, like me. Yup. I'm a daughter of Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture, and of course my mortal dad, Jim Gardner. He caught my mom's attention by winning the National Garden Competition, or NGC, a while back. Anyway, I was staying with my dad, step mom, and little stepsister for a while.

"I really like it there," I reply, "It's like my second home." Nikki looks glum,

"Why can't _I _go?" she asks.

"I told you," I lie, sighing, "It's only for dyslexic and ADHD kids." She huffs and we approach her apartment building. "See ya later, Nikki," I say.

"Bye-bye, Katie-Kay," she calls back and walks in. I roll my eyes at the nickname and start to head to my building, a few miles away. I put my ear buds in and fire up my iPod. I jog to the beat of Adele's latest hit. I get so into it that I don't notice the tall man until he jerks my arm back. He wheels me around so I'm facing him and grabs both my wrists.

"Going somewhere, Sweetheart?" he growls. I try to pull away, but he's too strong.

"Get off!" I shout, hoping someone will hear me. Then I realize there is no one around. I struggle harder.

"Ooh, you're a resister, ehh? Well, you won't be for long," he says, dragging me away. He shoves me through the door of a closed building and locks the door behind him. He starts towards me and I stumble back against a display window. He pressed his body against mine and his hand starts to inch up my shirt. I whimper. He holds up a knife to my throat and says, "Just in case."

Travis:

Conner and I were on break from Camp Half-Blood. We were staying with our mom, Carrie Stoll, and just cruising around good old New York. Connor was driving and I was chilling in the passenger seat, looking out the rolled down window.

"That's weird," Connor says, "Where is everybody?" I look around and don't see any cars or people.

"Hmm. I dunno. What happened to the city that never sleeps?" I reply, snorting. Connor just frowns. I roll my eyes and start to look at the display windows. Mostly boring things like purses and clothes, but then I see something that should _not _be in a store. A guy is pressed against a girl and...yeah. Ugh I really ha- wait. I realize that the guy is holding a knife at his side and the girl…the girl is _Katie_!

"Connor! Pull over!" I yell. He does.

"What?" he asks. When I start to get out of the car he asks, "Travis, what the hell is wrong?"

"Katie," is all I can say. He looks at me like I'm crazy and I jump out of the car. What the hell? Who is doing that to Katie? At least, I _think_ it's Katie. Even if it isn't, I still need to help her. I'm 99% sure it's her. Katie Gardner is the biggest crush of my life and I can recognize her any way, anywhere. I charge into the building and see that the guy has one hand in her shirt and the other inching down her pants.

"Hey!" I yell, "What are you doing?" He whirls around moves his hands from Katie to his knife hilt.

"T-Travis?" Katie stammers. She is shivering and I see tears running down her cheeks.

"I got this, Katie," I assure her. "I think you should leave," I tell the guy with my best death-stare.

"Not until I get what I want!" he replies, "And to do that, I think I'm going to have to take care of you." He starts towards me, knife drawn, and I grab my backup Celestial bronze knife and try a stab. It passes right through. Tartarus! He's mortal. Okay, I'm just going to have to work with what I've got and not die. There's a broom to my left and an easel to my left. Great. I grab the broom and go in to combat. We fight: broom handle against knife blade. He's pretty good, slashing at everything he sees and I realize that I have to catch him by surprize somehow. I act weak, only tapping his sides, and then, when he least expects it, _WHAM! _I whack him as hard as I can on the head with the handle. He crumples to the ground. To make sure he's unconcious, I kick him in the side (a little harder than nessasary). He's unresponsive. I stand there panting and turn my attention to Katie. She has slid down against the window, has her head in her hands, and is shaking violently. "Katie?" I venture, "Are you okay?" She looks up. She is _not _okay. The buttons on her shirt have been crudely undone, exposing her underclothes, her usually luminous eyes are now bloodshot, she has small gashes on her forehead and her right arm, and has a nasty bruise on her jaw.

"H-How did you know I was here?" she asks.

"I saw you through the window. Connor and I were...around the neighborhood," I reply. I outstretch a hand and pull her up to her feet. She takes a few trembling steps towards me and then falls. I catch her in my arms, she looks up, and for a moment, we stay like that, staring in each other's eyes. I never noticed just _how _beautiful they are.

"Thanks," she whispers, dropping her gaze. Connor walks in.

"What the Hades happened?" he demands.

"Uh. Katie got... you know," I say hestitantly. His face fills with surprize.

"Gods!" he says, "Are you okay?" Katie nods and stands up right. There is an awkward silence and then I say, "Um. Do you want us to take you home?" She nods again and we take her to the car. I've never seen Katie so fragile. She's always been so full of energy, especially when she's angry at me. Like that one time I somehow shattered one of the greenhouse windows of the Demeter Cabin with an arrow (being a son of Hermes, that kind of thing happens frequently). She was so angry she-okay, I don't really want to talk about what she did, but the bottom line is that she's _never _like this and I hate to see her when she is.

I go ahead and sit in the back of the car with her transferring her directions to her building to Connor. When we get there, I offer to take her up to her apartment and she agrees.

"Katie, how long were you even in there with him?" I ask in the elevator. She swallows and chokes out,

"About half an hour."

"And no one came to help you?"

"Nobody was around."

"Oh-yeah. What did he even _do_ to you?"

"Listen, Travis, I really don't want to talk about it right now."

"Should we call the police?"

"No. I don't want to get involved in anything like that." she says.

"Okay. Do you need my number? Just in case?" I ask. She shrugs he shoulders and then winces. I guess the creep hit her there, too. I hand her a slip of paper and we exchange numbers. "Just, uh, call me when you need me, I guess," I tell her. She studies me carefully, like she's suspicious.

"Okay." The elevator dings as we reach the 7th floor. I walk with her until we get to her apartment. "Thanks, Travis," she tells me and does something surprizing; she hugs me. "I don't know what would've happened if-if," she sniffs. She cries into my shirt and I awkwardly wrap my arms around her and say reassuring things. Now I really want to find that guy who did this to her and beat the crap out of him. Once she calms down, she thanks me again and opens her door to her apartment. I leave, thinking about all the explaining she's going to have to do. Even in spite of things, I have to smile. Katie Gardner just hugged me.


	2. In The Rain

**Okay, so here's my latest chapter. I hope you enjoy! Reviews are warmly welcomed. Constructive criticism is accepted. Encouragement and compliments will make my day! **

Katie:

_Oh. My. Gods. I. Just. Got. Raped. _

Those are the only words that go through my head as I walk through the door. I still can't really process what happened; what _he _did to me and-and what Travis did. I never imagined that Travis would do something so noble like that. I always thought of him as annoying and thieving. But when he stepped in and he saved me, he was put in a whole new light. And that moment-that moment when I fell into his arms and we locked eyes, something clicked. I had new feelings for him; feelings that I couldn't really explain. Sigh. Speaking of explaining, I was going to have to do a lot of it. As soon as I walk in the door, and my father sees me, I know I'm screwed. My dad and I, we never really see eye to eye…on like, _anything. _

"What the hell happened to you?" he exclaims.

"I, uh-" I start, but am cut off by my stepmom.

"Jim?" she said, "What's all the commotion about?" Then she walks in and gave me a distasteful look. My stepmom never cared for me. It's been a struggle to come back sometimes in between the arguing and neglect that goes on.

"I don't know!" my dad says. Then, turning to me, he adds, "Maybe Katie would care to explain why she looks like she jumped in front of a train!" Swallowing, I tell him what happened. His expressions are a mix of fury, shock, and then unreadable. When I'm through, I expect him to start ranting on about calling the police, but he doesn't. Instead, he just growls, "And you just _let _this happen?" I step back, in shock.

"You-You're kidding, right?" I say, "You think I could have prevented this?"

"Well, what happened to your," he lowers his voice, because my stepmom doesn't know about the whole Greek god thing, "_demigod _powers?" Huh, I didn't think of that.

"Well, I'm sorry but I was too busy being-being…" I tried to spit back, but I wasn't ready to talk about what happened. Really, I had tried to fight back; I really had; that's what earned me those cuts and bruises. I tried to make some plants (preferably poison ivy) grow and strangle him, but my powers wouldn't respond. Nothing happened. Not even a single sprout! My father is angry though- at me! We argue back and forth, my stepmom sometimes stepping in to back up my father, for hours until, finally, I can't take it. It was like that first day, 5 years ago, when I first ran away.

I do it again. Giving them both a look of pure hatred and hurt, I flee out the door. I run, wiping tears, down the hallway to the elevator. I hear my father calling after me, demanding that I come back, but I don't look back. I stab the elevator's button, signaling down. Just as my father starts sprinting towards me, the doors open and I jump in and close them. The elevator zooms down and as soon as the doors open again, I run towards the exit, knocking down random people as I go. I don't stop running when I get outside, I just keep going, the raindrops of a coming storm mingling with my tears. After 15 minutes of dashing in the cold, heavy rain, I just can't hold it in any longer. The trauma of what happened today mixed with my dad and stepmoms reactions is too much. I find an alleyway and sink down next to a dumpster. I start to sob hysterically. How could things go so wrong? Why is this happening to me? There is no one I can go to-except Travis. I could call Travis on my phone! My phone – which I left in the apartment. Great, just great. Maybe someone has a phone book? Okay, that sounds like a good idea. I trudge through the streets until I see a McDonalds. Ugh, I hate that place. Their foods are so greasy and fattening, but they might have a phone and a phonebook I can use. I walk in to the restaurant and make my way through the crowds which regard me coldly. I go up to the lady at the counter. She looks me up and down and raising her eyebrows says, "What can I get you?"

"Um, may I please use a phone? Like, not a cell?"

"Uh, sure. Just come around here and you can use the wall phone," she replies, frowning. She leads me back to an office which has a wall phone in it. I pick it up and stare at it blankly. I forgot Travis's number. Shoot. "Ya need a phonebook, Hun?"

"Um, yes please," I reply gratefully. She digs around in the desk and pulls out the giant phonebook of New York. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this. I take the heavy book and skim through the pages, looking for _S. _Hmm, Sta, Ste, Sti, Sto! Okay, Stobing, Stocker (really?), Stodent, Stogy, aha! Stoll. Oh great. Now there are like 12 _Stolls_! Frank Stoll, Garret Stoll, Jon & Harriet Stoll, etc. I'll have to use the process of elimination. Travis and Connor live with their mom so that narrows it down to Trevor & Bailey Stoll, Carrie Stoll, and Bella Stoll. Wait, he doesn't have a stepdad so that eliminates it to just Bella and Carrie. It sounds like Bella would be younger so I'll just have to take my chances with Carrie. It would be unsafe to call so I just copy down both addresses, that are conveniently by their number, on a sheet of paper and stick it in my pocket. The addresses are both fairly close to here and each other so that's nice. I thank the lady who helped me and go back outside in the rain.

Carrie Stoll's address is #107 HughtonBuilding. **(A/N: I don't know what addresses are like in NYC. Sorry!). **Thankfully, I know where that is. It's actually right next to the Starbucks Nikki and I went to the other day. It takes 45 minutes, but finally I reach the apartment building. By that time I am soaking wet. I attempt to wring some of the excess water out as I enter the warm, luxurious shelter. Taking my hair out of my loose ponytail, I finger-comb it nervously and walk over to the bellhop.

"Hi," I say, "Where can I find Apartment 107?"

"5th floor," he says without even looking up.

"Thanks," I mumble and walk to the elevator. I tiredly press the 5th button and stare up as the elevator travels to my selected floor. When it dings, signaling that I have arrived at my destination, I walk off and start looking at the door numbers. 103, 105, 107, and bingo. I knock on the door, hoping that I was right on the address, and a mid-aged woman with curly brown hair and brown eyes opens the door.

"Hey, can I help you?" she asks.

"Umm. Does Travis live here?" I ask, crossing my fingers.

"Yeah, yeah he does. Is he in trouble?" she asks, concerned.

"Um, no. I'm just a…friend," I reply awkwardly.

"Okay," she says and then calls in the room, "Travis! A friend is here to see you!" I turn beet red and stare at my feet until Travis comes out.

"Mom what frie- oh, hey. Katie. What's wrong?" he says emerging from the apartment.

"Uh-it's my da-" I start but am interrupted by Ms. Stoll opening the door a little wider and asking,

"Uh, Katie, would you like to come in?"

"Yes please. I'm a little wet, though," I say.

"Oh, it's okay. I get odder things in here," she replies breathily, leading me in.

"Mom," Travis says, "Do you have anything she can change into?"

"Yes. Right this way, Katie. You can dry off and borrow some of my clothes and then we can talk," Mrs. Stoll says taking me into the bathroom.

Travis:

Wow. Katie shows up at my place soaking wet with teary eyes and straggly hair. Not the weirdest thing I've seen. My mom takes her in the bathroom to get cleaned up and I walk to the room that I share with Connor.

"Hey," he says, "Who's here?"

"Katie," I reply.

"Again?" he questions, his brows furrowing in concern.

"Yeah, something else happened. She's with Mom, getting cleaned up."

"Huh, this doesn't really seem to be her day."

"No, it doesn't," I reply plopping back on my bed. I run my fingers through my brown, curly hair, thinking. How did Katie even find us? She really looks like she's been through the mill, especially with all her injuries that she got previously today. I wonder what happened with her family. I had dropped her off about 2 hours ago and everything seemed okay. I mean, except for the fact that she had just been, you know… 5 minutes later, my mom calls me into the kitchen where Mom is fixing Katie some leftover spaghetti from dinner. I sit down next to Katie and she stares at me with those harvest-green eyes that always drew me towards her. She has her dirty blonde hair braided back and her wounds have been treated.

Katie tells us about her dad and stepmom's reaction. She breaks down and cries a few times and I have to awkwardly pat her back. She finishes her story by saying,

"I hate being a burden, but I just _can't _go back!"

"If it's okay with you, Mom," I offer, "You can stay here tonight."

"Of course she can," Mom says. Katie swallows, and says, nodding,

"Thank you."

Mom sets up a bed on the couch and as soon as the clock strikes 9, we all feel like going to sleep.

"Um, night, Katie," Connor and I say, uncomfortably.

"Night, and uh, thanks for everything, guys," she says uncertainly. I nod and we go to our room and she goes to the couch. I sleep a dreamless sleep, which is odd for a demigod and then wake up. I check my clock. 12:30 A.M. I quietly slip out of bed and stop when I hear Connor ask, "Where ya going?"

"Uh, bathroom," I reply.

"Okay," he says and starts to snore again. I roll my eyes and then creep silently into the living room. Katie is curled up on the couch with a blanket, and snoring ever so slightly. I watch her for a while, smiling at the way she breathes deeply through her mouth and then lets it out in a little "puff" through her nose. I walk up to her and tuck some hair that came loose from her braid behind her ear. I stare at her face (a little creepy if she woke up, yes) and take in her beauty. Her skin is a nice tan color, her eyelashes are so long and elegant, and her lips are so full and perfect. She's even more beautiful than some of the Aphrodite kids (if I said that to them I would most likely get hit with an assortment of brushes and cosmetics). With a smile, I finally go back to bed.

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	3. Just Another Day In The Park

**Okay, the first thing I need to say is THANK YOU! For all the reviews, favorites, and follows. I was so pleased to have all of them come in at that alarming rate! Thank you all so much and enjoy this chapter!**

Katie:

As I wake up, I stretch my arms and open my eyes, expecting to see my bedroom, but then it all comes back to me at an alarming speed. I was sort of raped, abandoned, rained on, and then finally taken in by the Stolls. No one really seems to be up yet so I decide to make them breakfast **(A/N: She's so nice!) **to thank them for their hospitality. I take out my braid and comb through it with my fingers letting my now curly hair tumble down my shoulders. I go to the bathroom and freshen up and then go to the kitchen. Hmm, no one still seems to be up. Now I know where Connor and Travis got their sleeping in traits. I open the refrigerator as quietly as possible and take out 8 eggs and some mushrooms as well as some spices. I hope that Carrie doesn't mind.

I fry the mushrooms in the heated skillet and then add the eggs and spices. The scents of oregano and basil fills the air and I inhale deeply, imagining that I'm at the Demeter cabin's little private garden. I continue to cook, also making toast, until I hear footsteps.

Travis.

"Mom?" he mumbles half asleep, trudging down the hallway, "Are you cooking? Because last time, you almost burnt the building down." Then he realizes it's me and turns a bright red. "Oh, hey, Katie," he says, trying to act as casual as he can, "What're you doing?"

"Cooking," I say, rolling my eyes at him being oblivious to the obvious.

"Uh, yeah. Okay," he says, "Smells good." I raise my eyebrow and turn back to the stove. He walks up to the stove to see what I'm cooking and his shoulder brushes against mine. Instinctively, I flinch. He steps back, his blue eyes filled with hurt and confusion. Then he remembers. "Oh," he mumbles, "Sorry, I-"

"No, it's fine," I cut in, "I just..." My voice trails off and then he nods.

"Yeah," he says, "I get it." There is a brief silence which is broken by Connor yelling out,

"Mom! You better not be cooking again!"

"It's O.K." Travis calls back, "It's just Katie. Don't call 911!" Then he turns to me and says, "You _do _know how to cook, right?" At first, I think it's a joke, but his expression is serious.

"Um, yes?" I say uncertainly.

"Good," he says, "We do _not _want another fire... or bad cooking." I crack a smile. "Aha!" he says, "You _are _somewhat human!"

"You just figured that out?" I tease, playfully hitting his shoulder. I freeze. Did I just say that? And do that? Even Travis looks mildly surprised...but then, he also looks a little pleased. I try to act like nothing happened and ask him where the plates are.

"First cabinet on the left," he replies and even though my back is to him, I know he's grinning. Rolling my eyes I get out 4 plates. The designs on them are kind of pretty, the beautiful flowers wreathing the plate. I set them down on the table, just as Connor and Carrie walk in. Carrie looks from the skillet to the plates and puts her hand on her heart.

"Katie," she says, "You didn't have to make breakfast! I would have been more than happy to-"

"Mom," interrupts Connor, "I think that would be hazardous to our health." Carrie moves her hands to her hips.

"Connie," she says while Conner blushes at the nickname, "My cooking can't be that bad!"

"Let's just eat, shall we?" Connor replies. We all sit down at the table and I serve the eggs and toast. As we all eat, Travis sighs at the food and says,

"It has been so long since I had a good- I mean eggs. It's been a long time since I had eggs." Obviously, he didn't want his mom revealing his nickname. Too late though, when she frowns and says,

"Travi-poo! You weren't about to say that you hadn't had a good breakfast! I fix fantastic meals!" Travis cringes and protests,

"Mom!", and I snort. He turns to me and sticks out his tongue.

"This doesn't mean _anything, _Gardner!" he whispers.

"Whatever you say, _Travi-poo,_" I whisper back. He scowls at me and then continues to eat. Five minutes later, Carrie stands up and says she has to go on her morning mail route. Before she goes out the door, she tells me that I can go back to camp with Travis if I want. I nod gratefully and, smiling, she leaves.

Travis:

The first thing I thought when I walked in to Katie cooking was _Wow. She really is beautiful. _Of course, she was, with her now wavy hair cascading down her shoulders. I had been such an idiot when I talked to her. I felt so bad when I accidently brushed against her shoulder. It wasn't intentional, but the fear in her eyes made me feel awful. But then, the way she teased me like-it's just wishful thinking-we were... a couple. Of course, I didn't mind, but it still surprised me. Oh, and when my mom said my nickname...gods that was embarrassing!

After Mom leaves, Connor rises a little awkwardly and announces that he's going to hang out with his mortal friend, Justin. Then he whispers in my ear, "Don't try anything or Mom will be ticked."

"Connor!" I protest. He just grins, grabs his stuff, and, giving me the thumbs up, walks out the door. I shake my head and wonder why I have such a weird little brother.

"What did he say?" Katie asks, frowning suspiciously.

"Nothing," I answer, "So, what do you want to do today?" She shrugs, fidgeting with her fingers.

"You want a tour of New York?" I ask.

"I live here, genius," she sighs.

"All the better!" I reply.

"Whatever."

I grab a backpack from my room and pack some food, while she changes into some clothes. She emerges from the bathroom wearing a light green t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She cocks her head slightly at the backpack, silently asking, _What in the world is that for? _

"You'll see," I reply, and I open the door for her. She rolls her eyes but I see a hint of a smile play across her lips. "M'lady,"

"Don't 'M'lady' me!" she protests. I grin and walk out behind her, locking the apartment door behind me. We walk down the hall and into the elevator and I press the "L" button to go to the lobby. **(A/N: Again, I don't know how these kind of things work! I haven't been to NYC!) **We ride down and the elevator dings as we step out. I give a little wave to the bellhop. He scowls at me; he hated me ever since Connor and I put a firecracker in his...yeah. You get the idea. We exit the building and start walking down the streets.

"Where to?" Katie asks me.

"I was thinking along the lines of Central Park Zoo?" I reply. We hail a taxi, because Katie doesn't want to walk out on the streets after what happened yesterday. She even gives the taxi driver suspicious looks as we get in. I tell the driver where to go. As we ride, Katie just stares out the window. I start to wonder why when all of a sudden it hits me: this is the street where it all happened. She keeps glancing in the display windows nervously. Then I see him inside one of the little shops, waiting for his next prey. He sees us too. His face fills with rage and he starts to come out of the store and Katie gives a little gasp.

"Step on it!" she squeaks to the driver. He speeds up a little and I can just see the guy on the sidewalk shouting and holding up the finger. What a creep. Luckily, we make out and continue on without him pursuing us. 2 minutes later, the driver drops us off at the zoo. I pay the fee and get out, holding the door for Katie **(A/N: He's so sweet!)**. We find the entrance, pay, and go in.

"Where do you want to go first?" I ask.

"Let's go see the red pandas. I love those!" she replies and we walk down to the exhibit. When we get there, Katie just stares at the fuzzy raccoon-like animals while I try to read the information sign. I have dyslexia so it's kind of tough, but I make out that they live mostly in Asia and like bamboo. I look up from the sign and notice that Katie is frowning at the exhibit.

"What?" I ask.

"Red pandas are supposed to have more vegetation," she mutters. Then she smiles and her eyes start to twinkle. Uh oh. She looks around to make sure no one is watching then concentrates on the ground inside the exhibit. A sprout bursts out of the ground and snakes up in the air. It grows, its green stem turning brown and branching out into two. More and more limbs grow until before us is a fully grown tree. Lush grass also starts to grow and little flowers here and there. Then it stops. She looks at me for approval and I'm speechless. Finally, I manage to say,

"If there was a plant apocalypse than that would be what it would like."

"Oh-kay," she replies, smiling triumphantly, "Let's go." So we explore more of the zoo, making little plants spout up in the elephant, hippo, zebra, grizzly bear, and tiger exhibits. It's kind of freaky, but I can tell that Katie's having fun. I wonder what the mortals are seeing. Would the Mist even cover that? Around noon, we leave to go walk around the rest of Central Park. Eventually, we find a park bench to sit on and eat our lunch. At first we just sit and take in our surroundings then out of the blue Katie turns to me. "You know, Travis," she says, "I'm really having fun with you." Then she does something so unexpected that I don't know what to do. She leans in and kisses me. I take a moment to respond, but I start to kiss her back. She pulls out of it and says, "So thanks," then goes back in. I am partly aware of guitar music behind us and little daisies popping up near our feet. I don't care what the mortals think, because right now, I'm having the best moment of my life.

**So what did ya think? I did a little research on the red pandas by the way (which are at Central Park Zoo). Again, I'm sorry if I got the New York things wrong! I've never been (though I'd love to) so, yeah.**

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**Until next time!**

**~27lablover**

**P.S. The more reviews I get, the more eager I'll be to write more!**


	4. Love, Sorrow, and Monsters

**Okay. Here's my latest chapter. Enjoy! Feel free to review, follow, and favorite!**

Katie:

I can't help it. It just seems so right. He's there, I'm there, and there's sweet guitar music playing softly in the distance. At first, it's meant to be a word of thanks, but as soon as I gaze into his troublemaking blue eyes that annoyed me for so many years, but where I now find safety and shelter, all the thoughts cluttering my mind about Travis Stoll finally come together.

And I kiss him.

I eventually come out of the kiss to try to formally thank him, but not for long. I find the kiss so good and so right that I go right back in. Finally, we stop. He pulls out of it and gives me his signature smile.

"I knew it," he says.

"Knew what?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"That you liked me," he replies triumphantly.

"Not until now when-" I start, but my voice trails off when I see the look on his face. It's sadness and maybe even some hurt. "What I mean to say," I persist, "Is that you surprised me, Travis. I didn't know you could be so… sweet."

"Perhaps there are a lot of things that you don't know about me, Katherine," he replies, stroking an imaginary beard.

"You are _so _weird!" I say, "And don't call me _Katherine._"

"Ah," he replies, "But the weirdness was what you found so charming, eh?" I snort and he grins. "I guess, aside from your, (cough) obsession (cough) of plants (cough cough), that I liked you, too," he says.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Obsession? It's a hobby!" I protest.

"What ever you say," he sighs. I roll my eyes.

"Maybe," I counter, slowly, "I shouldn't have kissed you." His eyebrows go up and he raises his hands in surrender.

"Hey!" he says, "I was only kidding! You're a daughter of Demeter. I would only expect as much." Then his voice drops to a whisper, "But you still would kiss me, right?"

"You're impossible!" I exclaim, playfully slapping his arm.

"I am, what I am," he replies.

"You are what you are," I agree. "And what you are is Travis Stoll: a thieving, tricking, sneaky, annoying, but sweet guy."

"Guilty as charged and I think you left out perfectly adorable. Just FWI," he informs.

"I think you have a big ego," I reply. We laugh for a while, but then it fades.

"What are you going to do about your dad?" he asks quietly. I sigh. I had been trying to forget that part of my situation.

"I really don't know. I should see my stepsister, to check on how she's doing. My parents don't care for her much. But it won't be worth seeing my dad for. He'll be furious about me running away. I don't even know what he'll do."

Travis's face softens. "Like my mom said," he tells me, "You can stay as long as you'd like until Connor and I go back to camp, or you could just go to camp sooner."

"I'll have to see what happens," I reply, "For the meantime, I'll just stay with you guys. If you're absolutely okay with that."

"Absolutely, positively."

"That makes no sense."

"Sense makes no sense."

"_You _make no sense."

"Make sense, I don't?"

"Have you been watching Star Wars?"

"Possible it is."

"Ah, forget it! Crazy you are." Again, we laugh. This time, it's more hearty and long-lived. "So," I say, "What's next on the New York tour?"

"Pick-pocketing passerby," he informs.

"Um, no," I say.

"Crashing an Olympian party?"

"And getting blown to ashes? No."

"Grabbing some lunch?" he asks weakly.

"Sounds great!" I reply.

"McDonalds?" he suggests.

"Over my dead body."

"Okay. So no McDonalds."

"_Way _too greasy. How about Subway?"

"Where ever you go, I follow."

"Hey! Just because I kissed you, that does not automatically make you my boyfriend."

"It doesn't?"

"Afraid not."

"Fine," he replies, "Will you officially be my girlfriend?" My automatic answer would be yes, but I couldn't say that… not unless I had a little fun first.

"Hmm," I say folding my arms over my chest. Travis's eyes narrow in suspicion.

"Hmm, what?" he asks.

"Well. There _is _this really cute guy I met in Starbucks that shows some potential," I say. Travis's mouth falls open and his eyes widen.

"And this one godling that complimented my poison ivy traps and eyes at the end of the Titan War," I continue. Travis is beat red now, and his eyes are filled with anxiety. I should stop, but I have one last throw.

"And," I persist, "There's this Apollo kid that I find very… hot." Travis looks hurt and I have to try hard to keep my laughter in.

"_Apollo kid? _What about me? I thought you said I was sweet and perfectly adorable," he whines.

"First of all, _you _said perfectly adorable. Second of all, I believe you left out thieving, tricking, sneaking, and annoying. You have been pranking my cabin and me for the last 5 years. Don't forget that."

He mumbles something.

"What?" I ask. He clears his throat and says something barely audible,

"It was just because I love you."

Travis:

Crap! Katie likes other guys! She thinks that all the times I've pranked her were to get her mad! Okay, this just has to come out. Here it goes:

"It was just because I love you." Katie's eyes widen.

"_What?_" she asks, in disbelief.

"I love you. I always have. When your cabin didn't come back 'til later in the war I was worried that I had lost you forever. All those times I pranked you, they were just to get your attention. I thought that you wouldn't notice me any other way. Plus, with the chocolate bunnies, I thought that you'd like them."

When I look up from my feet, where my gaze had drifted I see that Katie has her hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes. Oh, gods. I messed something up. Just as I'm starting to apologize, Katie flings her arms around me and cries, "I had no idea! I was just joking about the other boys. I swear!"

"Even the Apollo boy?" I ask. She reconsiders.

"Okay," she admits, "Maybe the Apollo boy. Just a little. But you… you I like _a lot_. Even more than Will." I pull out of the hug and give her a disgusted look.

"Will Solace?"

"No. I'm kidding about the Apollo camper, too. Well, sort of. The only guy I really liked besides you was Lee Fletcher. We were going steady for 4 months and then there was the Titan War and… all that jazz."

I felt a pang in my heart. I forgot about Lee and Katie. They were a good couple and I was always so jealous of Lee. What was most awful about his death was that a little, selfish part of me was relieved to have Katie back to myself again.

"Oh, yeah," I say, "I'm sorry."

'It wasn't your fault," she replies.

"I know, but still,"

"Okay," she says, "I just- wait."

"What?" I ask.

"Look around," she replies slowly. Carefully, I turn my head and look around the park. There's nobody there. Just a big guy in a trench coat with his big, black dog reading a newspaper sits on the park bench across the path.

Suspicious.

Sure enough, the guy lowers the newspaper and scans the park, finally resting on us, and narrows his one big eye in the center of his face.

More suspicious.

I turn my attention to the dog that sits on the man's right which is now growling. It starts to grow, morphing into the giant dog, straight from Tartarus; a hellhound.

Really suspicious.

"Cyclops and hellhound?" I whisper to Katie.

"Yup," she confirms, "Got a plan?"

"Got a knife?"

"Left it at home. _Di Immortalies _that hellhound needs to lose some puppy fat!"

"Good thing I got an extra." I say pulling two bronze knives out of my front pockets that are enchanted to hold just about anything. Perks of being a demigod thief. Katie takes the knife, just as the monsters get up.

"You get the hellhound. I've got Mr. Detective over here," I tell her and she nods.

"Are you friends?" I call out to the Cyclops, "Or enemies?"

"Arg! You take you pick once you dead!" the Cyclops screams. I guess enemies. There's a brief standoff, which is broken when the hellhound pounces.

Then all hell breaks loose.

I take on Mr. Detective and try a stab. He parries it with a sword that practically appears out of nowhere. Behind me I hear cries of both girl and canine, but don't have the chance to look back. The Cyclops is a good fighter. The odds are defiantly not equal. I have to use every ounce of my strength for defense, not offense. Eventually, he disarms me and forces me to the ground. He raises the sword, but before he has the chance to swing it down, he grunts in pain and explodes into a mess of slime and dust, leaving behind only a trench coat, his sword, and a bronze knife.

Behind of the remains, stands Katie covered in dog fur and bleeding a little, but otherwise okay.

"Need some help there?" she asks, extending a hand. I take it, and she pulls me up.

"Thanks," I say.

"Sure thing," she replies, "Should we go back home and get cleaned up?"

"Good idea. Let's take the subway," I say, collecting the knives.

"Okay," she replies, picking up the trench coat and sword.

"What are you going to do with that? Wear it?" I joke.

"Ha ha. They're spoils of war, genius. We can take them to camp to go in the attic," she replies, brushing some monster dust out of her hair.

"Okie- dokie," I say, "Let's go."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

I clean off the knives in the kitchen sink while Katie takes a shower. I already took one and changed my clothes. After drying and sheathing the knives, I slip them back in my enchanted pockets, which I have on all my jeans **(A/N: Perks!)**.

Katie walks into the kitchen wearing one of my mom's yellow shirts and a new pair of jeans.

"Weapon?" I ask. She rolls up her sleeve to reveal an arm band with a knife strapped to it.

"I found it in your room," she tells me.

"You were in my _room_?" I exclaim, turning red.

"Yeah. I also read your diary. Relax, Travis, it was just on your dresser," she says, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever," I say trying not to look too embarrassed.

"So," she asks, "Are we still up for Subway?"

**I certainly hope they're still up for Subway! Did you like this chapter? I hope so! I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this story! Okay, maybe not, but still. Anyway, review, follow, and favorite (or else. Mwahahaahahaha!) with just a click of one or several buttons. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed. You are what keeps this story going. Thanks for all the support! **

**What do you think of Lee and Katie? Should I go more in depth of their relationship or just keep it at that? **


	5. Operation: Break Into Your Own Home

**I feel the need to make it clear that this is all happening in between the second Titan and Giant Wars. Just FWI. Enjoy the chapter! **

**Katie:**

"So," I say.

"So," Travis says.

We've just got our sandwiches and have sat down at Subway. There's an awkward silence and then Travis asks, "What's your step-sister like?"

This brings a smile to my face. "Oh," I say, "Lily's a sweetheart. She's always going on about her dance class and showing me some moves. It's adorable."

He smiles and says, "I wish I had a younger sibling."

"You _do _have a younger sibling," I point out.

"I do?" he asks. I smack my hand to my forehead and sigh,

"Connor, perhaps?"

"Ah, yes. But I don't really consider him a little brother," he replies, "I'm just older by a couple of years."

"Good point," I say and I take a bite of my turkey sandwich (with lots of veggies, of course).

We make small talk until we're done with our sandwiches. It's kind of nice, really, to learn about his life. Like who his mortal friends are, and what he does in his free time (mostly pranking. Big surprise there.)

He tells me about this one prank he and Connor did a while back. They went up to random New Yorkers and insulted them in Greek. Most were just scared away, but one was a major in Greek. Of course he translated easily and didn't really appreciate Connor calling him a "(let's just say) 'donkey' faced, monkey-butted moron'.

At least Travis and Connor got good exercise by running all over New York, escaping a very fast and very angry donkey-faced, monkey-butted moron.

"I was thinking," Travis says after we finally stop laughing loud enough to make several people leave Subway, "You probably don't want to wear my mom's clothes for another 4 days."

"No," I say, "But where am I supposed to get clothes if can't go home?"

"Home," he says.

I stare blankly at him. He sighs.

"You couldn't have _possibly _forgotten that Connor and I are- oh I don't know- masters of stealth," he says, dramatically examining his fingernails.

"So you want me to break in to my own house," I ask.

"You don't want to be seen?" he asks.

"No," I say.

"Then yes," he confirms, grinning, "I'll text Connor."

**OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

"Okay," Travis says, "You're sure that no one's going to be home?"

"Yeah. My dad and stepmom are at work and Lily is at dance," I reply.

"Ready?" he asks, sliding on "spy" shades that we got at the closest store to Subway.

"Born ready," I reply, putting on red heart shaped glasses I convinced him to let me wear instead.

We walk into the lobby of my apartment building and casually sit down on chairs next to a teenager with curly brown hair and a pair of "spy" shades.

"Connor," I say dramatically.

"Katie," he says, lowering his glasses a little, "We meet again."

I keep a poker face as we "casually" walk to the elevator and press the up button. The elevator opens, we walk in, and I press the 7 button.

It is silent as we rise to my floor. I lead the two brothers to my apartment and put my ear to the door to make sure no one's in there.

Nothing.

I try to turn the knob, but it's locked. _Well, duh _I think, _It's not like some one is going to leave their door unlocked in _New York.

"First one to find a bobby pin on Katie's mark gets 10 _drachmas_," Travis says.

"_Eísai trelós_!" **(A/N: ****_Eísai trelós_** **is Greek for "You're crazy.") **Connor says back, "You are _so _on!"

They look at me and, uncertainly, I give my mark.

Connor starts checking all his pockets and then starts to go to my hair. I slap his hand away.

"Not today, Stoll," I say.

Travis somehow has his arm down in his front pocket and pulls out a Celestial Bronze knife, blowtorch, crowbar (he looks at me questionably and I reject it), and a goat horn.

"Had a bet with a satyr," he explains, laughing nervously at my look and sliding it back in his pocket.

"Nice," I reply sarcastically.

Meanwhile, Connor is on the floor, combing through the carpet for any forgotten ones. The sight is so ridiculous, that I finally walk over to Travis and pull a bobby pin out of his shirt pocket.

"5 _drachmas _each, boys," I say, holding it up.

"No fair!" Travis protests, digging for the coins.

"Yeah," Connor complains, "You weren't even apart of the bet!"

"No one ever said anything about that," I reply, collecting Travis's money, "So fork it over, Connor."

He grumbles and complains as he rummages for the _drachmas._ I turn to Travis and give him the bobby pin.

"My things are making people look stupid and planting," I tell him, "_Your_ things are breaking into places you're not supposed to be and stealing things."

"Point taken," he admits, trying to ignore Connor's whispered "Burn!" He takes the pin and shoves it in the keyhole. He has the door open in a second. I'm amazed. The one time I tried that (_one_ time, mind you! I forgot my keys to the camp shop), it took me more than an _hour_ to do it!

Travis sees the look on my face.

"It's a gift," he says, straightening up slightly. I roll my eyes and refrain from explaining the difference between a gift and a habit.

As Travis and I walk in, Connor pushes past us and ninga rolls into the apartment.

"Was that really necessary?" I ask.

"You asked for the best," he points out, adjusting his sunglasses and standing up.

"Okay, James Bond," Travis says, "You, uh, stay here, while Katie and I go get her stuff."

Connor salutes and then wiggles his eyebrows at us suggestively. As we walk past him, I punch him in the gut.

"Not cool, Gardner," he grunts, bending down, "So not cool."

"I agree entirely," I reply.

I walk into my room and notice Travis following. I block the door.

"You can't come in my room!" I squeak.

"You went into _my _room!" he replies.

"Point taken," I say, "But isn't it like against sacred rules for a boy to come into a girl's room?"

"You wish," he says, grinning, "Now let me in!"

"I was only in your room for a second!"

"Fair is fair," he says.

"Fine," I say, scowling.

I rush in to my room and do some last-second "tidying". I shove a few stuffed animals of my bed, rip a picture off the wall, and kick them, along with a pile of dirty clothes under my bed.

"Wow," is all he can say, when he sees the twenty-some plants I have around my room. I smile nervously. "Your *cough* obsession *cough* of plants *cough, cough* is worse than I thought," he adds.

"I told you," I whine, "It's a _hobby_!" He grins at my excuse. I sigh, defeated.

I get my stuff together while he looks around my room.

"Thanks for all the help," I say.

"You're welcome," he replies, distracted.

Finally, without any help from I-Bet-You-Know-You, I finish packing and start to go.

"Hold up!" Travis says. I freeze, praying to even Ares that he didn't look under the bed. I slowly turn around.

"What?" I ask. He holds up a plant. On the pot, it says "Baby Girl".

"Really?" he says.

"What's wrong with Baby Girl?" I demand.

"You are _such _a plant-aholic!" he exclaims.

"Well," I start, walking towards him, "You're _dating _a plant-aholic." I wrap my arms around his neck and am about to kiss him **(A/N: Got a problem with Tratie romance? If you do, shame, shame, shame.)** when we hear a voice.

"You are?"

**Travis:**

Connor.

He stands in the doorway with his arms crossed. Katie steps back a little and exclaims, "Were you eavesdropping?"

"No!" he replies, "I was listening without you guys knowing."

"Connor," I say, "That's eavesdropping."

"Oh. Well then, yes, yes I was."

Ugh, I can't believe him!

Katie looks at me expectantly. She looks like a deer caught in headlights. The look is kinda cute. Really cute with her big pleading eyes that say, "Oh please help me!" and her little pouty mouth and her- Oh snap out of it, Travis!

"Uh," I say, "Well, why?"

"To find out secrets and add them to the blackmail file," he replies, simply.

"Oh-kay," I say.

"So you are?" he asks.

"Are what?" Katie asks back.

"Going out," he says.

"Uh," Katie says and silently pleads to me.

"Yes," I say quietly. For a moment it's silent and Connor starts to shout.

"OMG! Call the press! Call the president! Call all of the good-and totally hot- daughters of Aphrodite! My dear gods! Tratie is here!" he screams and then starts hopping around like a rabbit.

"Tratie?" Katie asks, giving Connor a look that makes him stop hopping.

"Oh," he says, laughing nervously, "That's not a nickname that the rest of the camp and I made up for you guys for when you _finally _started dating, that's for sure."

"_Tratie?_ Seriously, Connor?" I say.

"We can make it Kavis it you want. You know, put the lady first, but Tratie sounded better," he suggests.

Katie puts her face in her hand signaling that she's officially ticked off. She gets that way a lot when she's around us Stoll brothers.

I suppose Connor doesn't want to get smacked on the back off the head (for the umpteenth time), because he takes the hint and leaves.

But not before he says, "I'll leave you too lovebirds alone. Don't get _too _carried away." (Which brings a loud, "Get out already!" from Katie and an obnoxious snicker from Connor).

"Well, that was awkward," I say.

"Couldn't have been more," Katie agrees.

After a moment Katie says, "Where were we?"

She wraps her arms around my neck again and we start to kiss.

"This is an apartment, not a hotel," Connor chimes from the doorway.

"CONNOR!" Katie yells. Connor looks at his wrist.

"Whoops! Look at the time! Hate to go but I don't think I have- HOLY HERA!"

Behind Katie, all her plants grew twenty times their normal size and, naturally, grew giant thorns.

Connor took one look and heroically… bolted.

Katie snapped off a giant thorn, grabbed her bags, bid her plants goodbye, and ran after him screaming, "Connor Stoll! Get back here before I whip your _varéli_!"

I take after them, closing the apartment door behind me and listen to Connor running down the stairs (the elevator took too long) screaming, "She's a demon! A demon!" closely pursued by Katie swearing in both Greek and English.

They're going to be such good friends.

***laughs lightly* This story's going to be so much fun. Sorry that this chapter's kinda short. I had more in mind, but I'm too lazy. **

**Thanks to all my reviewers, favoriters, and followers! I would list you, but I'm too lazy for that as well.**

**What do you think about the Tratie romance in this chappie? Did it come too soon? Do you want more of it? Do you want Connor to keep interrupting? **

**PJO Trivia: What was the first form of Apollo's sun chariot in ****_The Titan's Curse_****?**

**Please review, favorite, and follow! And check out my other stories! **


	6. Not Drastic?

**Well here's my latest chapter. Much thanks to 1 PERCY JACKSON FAN for reviewing not once, but 4 times. Enjoy the chapter. **

Katie:

I wake up into the second night of my stay with the Stolls.

After Connor interrupted Travis and me the other day for the _second _time, I had to chase him all over the block until I felt that he had paid the price. I let him off a little easy though, because I have to spend another 3 days with him, now and I suppose since I'm dating Travis.

Of course, Ms. Stoll **(A/N: That's what I've decided to call her) **was a little concerned about the way Connor was walking (he twisted his ankle running away from me; I didn't do anything) and his slightly bruised jaw (confession time: that was me), but her spirits were lifted when she heard about Travis and me. They were lifted _so_ high, that she had the good heart to make a big dinner for us.

Luckily, she didn't burn anything (besides the food), but I had to put every ounce of my effort to not gag.

Anyway, I decide to sneak into the kitchen again to make breakfast, but when I walked through the door, someone was waiting for me. Ms. Stoll stood at the stove, arms crossed.

"Not today, Katie," she says, shaking her brown curls, "I can't ask you to do that. It's my home and I need to cook, no matter how bad it is."

"Oh, it's not that-" I start.

"You don't have to lie," she interrupts, "I know."

"Maybe I could teach you how to cook…better," I suggest. She considers it.

"I suppose I could allow that," she admits. I smile.

"Okay," I say, "What do you want to make?"

"Well," she says, shifting from foot to foot, "I've always wanted to make an egg-bake."

"Alright. Let's get started," I say, "Get 8 eggs from the fridge."

Together, we gather all the ingredients and utensils. We spread out crescent rolls on the bottom of the greased pan (I had to explain that if you grease the pan, the food won't stick). Carrie cracks the eggs into the bowl and I pick out the eggshells. We put in the rest of the food and put it in the oven. She sets the oven to 500 degrees and I rush over to turn it down to 375 degrees. That was close. I tell her to set the timer for 30 minutes and then we go sit at the kitchen table and talk.

"So what did you and Travis do yesterday?" she asks, "I mean, before you met up with Connor."

I get a little nervous. Should I tell her about the kiss?

"Uh, we went to Central Park," I tell her.

"Ooh! Did you go to the zoo?"

"How did you know?"

"Travis loves the zoo; you couldn't have gone to Central Park without going there."

"Well, yes. I ran around like a little kid, magically growing plants in the exhibits. It was really fun."

"Ah. I see. What did you do afterwards?"

"We walked around a little. Sat down on a bench and talked."

"Sounds nice."

"Yup. Until the monster attack."

Ms. Stoll looks confused.

"Monster attack? Travis never mentioned anything about a monster attack," she says.

"Oh, he probably didn't want to worry you," I reply.

"How bad was it?" she asks.

"Not too bad," I assure her, "Just a hellhound and a Cyclops. I don't think we attracted it. I think that we just ran across it and they smelled us then. My whole 'daughter of Demeter' scent isn't too strong."

"Are you going to stay at camp for the rest of your life?" she asks. That's kind of personal, but I can trust her.

"I don't think so. I've been homeschooling myself, so I think I might go to college when I'm ready," I tell her.

"That's good," she replies, "Even half-bloods need an good education."

"I agree," I say.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Katie," Travis says, as he walks in the kitchen.

"Morning," I say.

"Morning Travi-" Ms. Stoll starts to say.

"SO!" Travis interrupts, before his nickname is spoken, "What's cooking today, Chef Katie?"

"You should probably say Chef Carrie," I tell him. He sniffs the air.

"There's nothing burning," he states.

"There isn't," I assure.

"And _Mom _made this?" he asks.

"Your mother made this."

"Without any help?"

"No help, whatsoever."

"Oh-kay," he says, not entirely convinced.

"I made egg-bake, sweetie," Ms. Stoll tells him.

"Mmmmm," Travis starts, "Last time you made that-"

"It was the firefighters' bravest fight," she finishes.

"I bet you wish Percy was there," I say.

"Percy?" Ms. Stoll asks, "Who's Percy?"

"Oh," Travis says, "He's the 'son of the sea god'."

"You mean Pos-" she starts.

"Mom! You have to be careful with names! I told you this a million times!" he complains.

"Poseidon. Poseidon. Poseidon," she taunts, "Honey, I'm mortal. It won't affect me. Your own _father _told me that."

"Whatever," Travis mutters.

The timer goes off, just as Connor walks into the kitchen.

"Agh! Smoke alarm!" he shouts, "Call the Fire Department!"

"Connor! It's just the oven timer!" Ms. Stoll exclaims and then mutters to us, "Bah, he's not a half-blood. It's more like he's half-asleep."

We laugh as she goes to get the egg-bake out of the oven.

"What's so funny?" Connor grumbles, as he sits on the other side of Travis.

"Nothing," says Travis, smiling, "Apparently, Mom made breakfast today."

"So I _should _call the Fire Department?" he asks.

"No, you _idiōtēs_," I tell him, "Nothing's burning."

"Yet," he mutters.

"Come get your food!" Ms. Stoll says from the counter, where she's dishing out egg-bake."

Connor and Travis give each other quick glances and then race to the counter.

_Boys. _

I walk to Ms. Stoll and get my food and fork and sit back at the table. Just as I sit down, Connor stands up, grinning.

"I have an idea," he says, before running out of the kitchen. I give Travis a look and he shrugs his shoulders. We wait until Connor comes back with a candle and a matchbox. I scoot my chair over a little.

He places the candle in the middle of the table and lights it.

"What are we doing?" Travis asks, "Summoning ghosts?"

"Ha-ha," Connor says, as he picks a piece of sausage out of his food. "For Hermes," he says, and drops it into the tiny flame. It disappears.

"Whoa," Travis says, picking a piece of egg off his plate, "For a very handsome god of thieves from whom I get my dashing looks from." He drops it into the candle and it disappears.

My turn. I pick a piece off my slice and drop it in. "To all of the gods, even the minor," I say.

A flickering figure of a girl appears across the table and smiles and me. She has a fire- a literal fire- in her eyes and when I wave, she disappears as quickly as she came.

"Who are you waving at, Katie?" Travis asks.

"Superman," I say. Connor eagerly looks to the window and I snort.

Ms. Stoll sits down and we start to eat. Connor has this amazed look on his face as he takes his first bite while Travis just smirks.

"This is," Connor says in between bites, "By far, *chew chew* the best *chew* thing you've *chew chew* ever made." **(A/N: How Connor-ish, right? Talking with his mouth full?) **

"Aw. Thank you Connie," his mother replies. His blissful smile is wiped off his face. After a few minutes, she looks at her watch.

"I'm going to be late to work. People need their mail, right?" she says.

"Right-O," Connor replies, "If you lovebirds need me, I'll be steal- uh- I mean eating candy from the sweet shop down the street. Toodles!" They both leave and I turn to Travis.

"So what's next on Tour de New York?" I ask.

"If we're not stealing," he replies, "We are most _defiantly _pranking."

"Aw, come on!" I whine.

"It'll be fun," he says, "Trust me."

"Trust the guy who put chocolate bunnies on my cabin roof?" I say.

"You never seem to forget that one," he grumbles, "But yes." He gives me a cocky grin.

"Fine," I sigh, "As long as it's not too drastic."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he says, "Now, lets go get changed."

I wait for Travis at the door; he's taking forever with the supplies. It feels so good wearing my own clothes. Ms. Stoll's were nice and comfortable, but they just weren't… mine.

Travis comes out of his room with a big duffel bag and I look at it nervously.

"Not too drastic, huh?" I ask.

"Never," he replies.

"Fine," I say, "Let's get it over with."

"That's the spirit, Kates," he says.

"Kates?"

"It's your new nickna-"

"No."

"But it's so-"

"No."

"But I thought that-"

"Listen, Travis," I say, "Listen to me."

He looks at me and I come closer and whisper in his ear.

"No."

He sticks his tongue out at me and we go out the door. It doesn't take long for us to get to a dark alleyway.

"What now, Genius?" I ask.

"Why thank you," he replies, "Make up and-"

"No make up!" I shout.

"Chill out! It's only for the prank," he says and then mutters, "Sheesh, _somebody's _stressed."

I glare at him and he shrinks a bit. Oh how I love controlling people with dark looks. I think my fellow camper, Annabeth Chase, enjoys doing that with her boyfriend.

I smile at the thought. As much as I'm loving spending time here with the Stolls, I really miss camp; the strawberry fields, the canoe lake, the beach, even Seymour, Mr. D's living leopard head that lives in the Big House and has a "secret" love for Snausages.

Anyway, my idea of make up and Travis's are completely different, so I consider myself lucky.

He takes red face paint out of the duffel bag and spreads a little on my face. Then he puts a little dirt on it and messes up my hair a lot.

"Can you grow a little tree?" he asks.

"Why?" I ask, suspiciously.

"Just do it," he tells me.

"Excuse me?" I say, raising my eyesbrows.

"Please?" he adds.

"Fine."

I concentrate on the concrete beneath us and in a few seconds, a sapling bursts through the stone and grows into a tree. Travis picks off a few branches and leaves, and puts them in my hair.

"The look really flatters you," he tells me.

I punch him in the arm.

Next, he puts black eye shadow beneath my eyes to make them look hollow and ravenous. When he holds up the mirror, I recoil a little. What's before me is a monster; one who's been running through the forest for years. She's a wild girl.

"What exactly are we doing, Stoll," I ask.

"Oh, all _you_ have to do is run for your life and scream a lot," he says, digging in his duffel bag.

"Well, we've all had good practice with that," I laugh.

"Yeah," he agrees smiling.

He keeps looking through his bag.

"What is _in _there?" I ask.

He looks up at me with a sheepish smile and says, "Not a rubber-bladed chainsaw, that's for sure." He pulls out the named item and a hockey mask and puts them on.

"Now just do what I told you and I'll chase you, you can dramatically act a little too. If you want," he instructs.

"Got it," I say.

Travis starts the rubber chainsaw and I'm surprised at how life-like it is. I might not even have to act.

"Ra-a-ah!" he roars. Okay, I'll have to act. _Seriously, Travis _I think, _you _really _need to stop watching those corny horror movies. _

I give out a fake scream and start to run. I emerge from the alleyway into the busy streets of New York and knock over some guy.

"Help! Help! I thought I lost him in Virginia, but he's found me!" I scream. The guy looks terrified. "What the hell? Wh-who found you? Who _are _you?" he stutters.

"You have to help me," I squeal, "This guy; he's crazy. HE'S CRAZY!"

"Just calm down and tell me who!" he shouts.

"Hey, what's going on over here?" a tall lady asks.

"He's coming!" I shout, "He's COMING!" Now the lady is freaking out, too, and I've captured the attention of several different people around us.

"Who?" asks the lady.

I dramatically point to the alleyway and shout, "HIM!" Travis jumps out with the chainsaw and goes, "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" And then everyone starts screaming and running everywhere, causing mass panic on the entire block. No one notices me running up to him.

"_Dekára,_" he says, "I didn't expect it to be this bad."

"What do we do?" I ask.

"Run?" he suggests.

We run back into the alleyway and shove everything into the duffel bag. I concentrate on the tree and it shrinks back into a sapling and then back in to the ground. The concrete falls back into place and everything looks as it was before.

"This may not be the best time, but that is totally awesome!" Travis states.

"Thanks and let's get out of here!" I answer.

Travis hands me a make up wipe and I wipe up my face until it looks normal. I imagine all the leaves and sticks flying off and when I open my eyes and I feel my hair, it's plant-less.

"Okay," Travis says, "Let's go!"

We hear a man's gruff voice.

"The suspect and victim came from here, right?"

"Yes," says the voice of the guy who I knocked over, "And the chainsaw guy went back in. I don't know where the girl went. She just disappeared."

We run out of the other side of the alleyway and flee down the streets. When we finally stop running, I turn to Travis and smack him.

"What kind of _prank _was that, Stoll?" I demand.

"Wha-" he starts, confused.

"You caused total mass panic and got the _police _involved!" I cry, "They think that it was real! Like an attack or something!"

"Chill out, Kates. The police are pretty smart. They'll figure out it was a prank. They probably won't be happy about it, because we took them off their doughnut **(A/N: That ****_is _****how you spell it, right? Not donuts? This word(s) confuse(s) me so much!) **break."

"That is so stereotypical," I say, "And don't call me Kates."

"'Kay, Kates," he says, smiling his crooked smile. I glare at him.

"Can we do something normal…ish?" I ask.

"What do you have in mind?" he asks.

I smile.

"I know of this abandoned building."

**Travis: **

We stand at the front of a (wayyyyyy) closed Macy's building. This is _normal_?

"Perfect," Katie pipes and practically skips into the building. _That's my girl, _I think. I'm happy that I finally get to say that.

I run in after her, but she's not in there.

"Kates?" I call out. I trip over a sudden tree root and fall, scraping my knee a little. I can almost hear Katie saying, _don't call me Kates. _

It's dark in here and kind of scary. Who knows what could be lurking in the shadows. I hear a noise come behind me and I whip around, my heart starting to race.

"Katie?" I say, "Come on. There could be Cyclopes in here. We need to stick-"

"Together?" Katie asks and I turn around to see a sword point to my neck.

"HELLO!" I shout, "Where in Hades did you get that?"

"Don't use the Lord of the Dead's name as a swear, Travis. It's kind of weird, but he's my uncle… and brother-in-law. Actually, forget kind of weird, that's weird beyond words," she says.

"Fine," I say, mocking her tone, "Where in Tartarus did you get that?"

She looks slightly offended as she says, "It was a gift from my mother. It has this button you press to grow and shrink the blade."

"Like a lightsaber?" I ask.

"Even better," she replies, "I can make it a dagger, a hunting knife, and a wicked sword. And shrink it down to the handle so I could keep it in my pocket."

"Pretty cool," I say, looking at the handle. It has plant engravings in it and a bronze flower on the silver hilt that has a small button on it.

"Did you bring a sword?" she asks. I did, but, oh come on! What does she want to do? Sword-fight?

"Yeah," I say, "But I'm way out of your league when it comes to this."

"Try me," she challenges. If I back out now, I'll totally look like a wimp. I consider it.

"Come on, Stoll," she taunts, "Are you afraid of getting your half-godly butt whipped?" Okay, that does it. I pull a piece of oddly folded paper out of my front pocket and unfold it. The paper suddenly turns to bronze.

"Nice," she grins.

"I had Beckendorf make it for me, before the war," I reply, "He and I were kind of close." **(A/N: Gasp!)**

"Oh," she says, her cocky attitude fading, "I'm sorry."

"Well," I say, "We all lost someone. I'm just glad I didn't lose you."

"Me too," she says, lowering her sword and stepping towards me, "I mean, as annoying as you are, I really need someone to make my life interesting."

Then, of course we kiss. This time, we're not interrupted by Connor, but we are interrupted by Katie's eagerness to fight.

Her sword shrinks down into a knife and she holds it up to my throat.

"Let's play," she says.

We back away from each other and she grows her knife into a full-length sword that I'm sure is balanced just right for her. She takes the first swing and I just barely am able to deflect it.

Our swords are crossed in that way that happens in almost every single movie that has swords in it. She sticks her head in the gap and taunts, "Way out of my league, huh?"

"Way out," I reply, keeping my game face on. I grit my teeth and try a move that forces her to let go. Her eyes narrow.

She keeps coming at me, swing after swing. All it is for me is dodging. Dodge. Block. Parry. Swing. Side-step. (Totally epic!) Ninja roll. Block. Curse. Dodge. Counter. Curse again. Block.

Eventually, she manages to disarm me, cut my arm a little, and knock me to the ground.

What a gal.

"Okay, Katie," I say, "You win, you win."

She helps me up and leads me to another room.

The only way I can describe it is… CampHalf-Blood.

**Duh! Duh! Duhhhhhh! **

**So, the people who got the PJO trivia are:**

**Vans321**

**Lady Loophole**

**Apeni**

**AmainNatan4ever**

**1 PERCY JACKSON FAN**

**Scarlett di Angelo**

**Congrats! The PJO Trivia this week is: What does ****_Erre es Korakas _****mean? **

** Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed! To those who haven't, It's just a click (or 2 or 3) away. **

** Thanks so much!**

**-27lablover. **

** Ps. (You can do that in Fanfiction stories!) Make sure to check out my other stories. :D**

**PPS. (Haha! I can do this too!) If any of you are Potter fans, I strongly suggest my friend, Othiara's, Collection of Double Drabbles. Just remember. Book: Harry Potter. Author: Othiara. Story: A Collection of Double Drabbles. Awesomeness: Off the Charts. **


	7. Flashback to the Past

**Let's get some things straight. I have not been kidnapped. I have not died. I did not take a trip to the moon. Clear?**

**I ****_have_**** been really busy. It was my birthday (Percy Jackson Party! :D), then I had company, it was Independence Day (The 4****th**** of July), I went to a two-week camp (sadly, not Camp Half-Blood), and along with all that, I was lazy. **

**So sorry for that. It's been, what? A month? That's embarrassing. Oh well. Here ya go. **

**Wait! I'm going to start disclaimers.**

**Disclaimers: I do not own Travis, Connor, Katie, or any of the characters in this story besides Carrie, Nikki, and Justin. RR owns the rest. :( **

Katie:

Home. That's where I want to be whenever I'm on break. But home isn't at my dad's apartment. That is as far from a home as you can get. No, my home is camp.

I first got there when I was 10 and found a new family. A better family. With my siblings: Mirinda, Rose, Lily, George, Max, and all the others. There, I fit in. I'm not a freak.

There, I'm loved.

And pranked, of course.

But still loved.

And so there, I'm happy.

As I lead Travis into my own camp I put together when I was 11, I remember each and every thing I did to make it feel like home. There's a giant window with daylight streaming in on a bunch of strawberry plants that are planted in pallets, and a cheap archery set in one corner. Of course, there was the sword-fighting arena and there were also slabs of stone and tools for my very own Arts and Crafts station. But the best, greatest thing my replica of camp had to offer was the climbing wall. It wasn't made out of stone, but it was made out of foot-thick vines, that funneled up around, and around. It didn't have lava pouring down the sides, but I could easily control 6 inch thorns to move around.

I turn to Travis and say, "I know it isn't much, but… what do think?"

He just stood in awe. I snapped my fingers in front of his face.

"Whoa, Kates!" he exclaimed, "Easy! I think it's amazing."

Despite the compliment, I hold my forehead in my hand.

"How many times do I have to ask you not to call me that?"

"As many as it takes."

I sigh, but his answer- annoying, yes- is also kind of sweet, somehow.

"Come on, Jesse James," I say, slipping my hand into his and pulling him to the climbing wall. "Race you to the top!"

I put the thorns in to what you might call "auto-pilot" and put Travis on the opposite side of the base to me.

"You're going down Gardner!" he yelled, grinning.

Suddenly, my legs felt weak. I started to get dizzy, and my vision was fuzzy.

"Uh, Travis," I say weakly, "I'll be right back."

Travis starts to question, but I run out the door into the room we were just in. I stand in the middle of the room and start to sway a little. My knees buckle and I'm transported back in time.

**Flashback: **

**It was a warm, sunny day at Camp Half-Blood. The love struck satyrs were chasing the nymphs, the Pegasi were happily roaming the skies, and the campers were going through their daily activities. **

**That morning, the Apollo and Demeter cabins were having rock-climbing together. It was a race to the top. One camper from each cabin would race the other from the other cabin.**

**It was first Miranda vs. Austin. Austin scaled the rock, no problem. He would have won, if not for the fact that Miranda was faster. **

**Then it was Kayla vs. George. They were neck and neck, about half-way up the rock, but then George's hand slipped. Then the other. He fell to the ground and Kayla won. **

**Next, it was me vs. Lee Fletcher. We got on opposite sides of the rock and he shouted, "You're going down, Gardner!" **

**"Fat chance, Lee!" I yelled back. He grinned and we raced up the rock. My mind went into autopilot and became one with my body. Whatever I thought, I did. ****_Left hand, right hand, left foot, right foot, avoid lava, left foot, left hand. _**

**I was at the top before Lee was even three fourths of the way up! I walked across the top and leaned over the edge to see him. He looked up and waved flirtatiously and I mockingly blew a kiss back. Distracted, he missed his next handhold and fell. I doubled over in laughter, that is, until he came back up. **

**He must have run around the other side and climbed up pretty quickly, because when turned around, there he was, his face a millimeter away from mine. He grabbed my face and kissed me deeply. The feelings and hopes already there, I kissed back. **

**Our cabins below cheered and some of the guys wolf whistled which caused me to blush. We barely noticed the passing Aphrodite cabin who were squealing with delight, or the Hermes cabin, with some in shock. **

**Next Flashback: 1 year later**

**We were ten minutes in to battle. I slashed ****_dracaenae_**** after ****_dracaenae_****, but still, the battle wasn't going that great. Nico DiAngelo, that weird son of Hades that had returned from running away had summoned a small army of the undead. Creepy. The Apollo cabin (including my boyfriend Lee) were stationed in trees, shooting arrows at the enemy. The Demeter, Dionysus, Poseidon, Athena, and Ares cabins were doing ground combat while the Hephaestus and Aphrodite cabins were setting up traps. The rest were doing whatever they could. **

**2 campers were already down. Castor, the son of Dionysus was killed by an enemy demigod. One daughter of Aphrodite was down. But as cruel as this may sound, none of them mattered compared to the next person who got slaughtered. **

**There was a loud roar and I turned in its direction. Lee had shot an arrow in the armor of a Lastrygonian giant. The giant swung his massive club and hit Lee so hard on the head he fell out of the tree. He hit the ground hard and I knew he had broken a few bones. **

**I was distracted with a hellhound for a few seconds and when I looked back over, my heart sank. The giant had picked up his foot and was hovering it over Lee. **

**"NO!" I screamed. I ran over to the giant, my sword raised in the air and sliced through the armor and straight into him. He turned into a pile of ash. **

**I quickly knelt down next to Lee and looked him over. When I saw the dent in his skull, I knew it was over. His breathing seemed to be forced and hard. I put his head in my lap. His eyelids fluttered. **

**"Katie," he said. **

**"Lee, you can't die!" I said.**

**"I'm- I'm sorry, Katie," he rasped. **

**"Don't leave me alone!" I cried.**

**"You won't be alone," he murmured. **

**"Stay with me! Don't go!" **

**"I have to. I-" **

**"No!" **

**"I love you."**

**"I love you, too." **

**He smiled a bit and then his breathing shortened.**

**"Elysium," he muttered.**

**"You'll get there," I replied. **

**He nodded and closed his eyes. **

**The son of Apollo was dead. **

Travis:

I run after Katie. After I had said that one sentence, she had gotten pale and started to sway a bit. She had dashed out of the room like no tomorrow. Was it me?

I find her in the next room, on the floor, sobbing.

"Katie!" I shout, "What is it?"

She slowly looks up, tears rolling down her face.

"Travis? Wha- What's going on? I- Oh." She stammers.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just- just a flashback."

"Oh. I thought those had stopped."

"So did I," she sniffed and then wiped away her tears and composed herself. I decided not to push her to talk about it.

"You okay?" I asked. She nods and I wrap her in a hug.

"Good."

"Let's go," she says.

"Okay, Katie," I say and we get up. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and she wraps hers around my waist and we walk out together.

**Okay, don't hate me for the Lee thing. I know all of you didn't like the idea and said to leave it be, but alas, I am rebel. **

**This is****_ my_**** story, so I could just have Katie go crazy and kill Travis. Heck! I could just end this story right here! But I won't do either of those things. I mean, I'm not Medea for Zeus's sake! **

**Moving on, I am so happy about my reviews! 83! Gods, I love you guys! Maybe, this chapter we can make it to 100 (hint, hint)! **

**Okay. PJO Trivia. **

**Congrats to:**

**The Good Child**

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**Anonymous burger**

**Question of the chapter: **

**What two kinds of animals accompany the Hunters of Artemis? **

**Anyway, review, favorite, follow, and check out my other stories!**

**Until the Fates bring us together again, **

**27lavlover **


	8. Mega-Awkward

**Hello, my dear friends. It's time for the latest chapter of ****_You Stoll My Heart_****! *breaks in to dance and then slows down because nobody's joining in like they always do in cliché movies* "What? I'm just trying to lift the spirits!" **

**Disclaimers: **

**Me: Let me tell you a secret.**

**Other Person(OP): What?**

**Me: I own Percy Jackson!**

**OP: *slap!* You do NOT!**

**Me: *rubs cheek* Okay, fine. All rights go to Rick Riordan. **

Katie:

_You idiot._

That's all I think as we leave the building.

Just as Travis and I were having such fun, I _had _to have a flashback. Just because of 4 words! I probably upset Travis. Something tells me that he knew what the flashback was about… and didn't particularly like it.

I hope he isn't mad or jealous. I mean, having a flashback about your old boyfriend who's been dead for two years? Not something that your current boyfriend might like.

But Travis, being the laid back and carefree kind of guy, didn't seem mad, just a little sad.

As we hop in to a taxi, I turn to him and ask, "You know what the flashback was about, don't you?"I quickly glance up at the cabbie. He doesn't seem to care about what we were talking about. I guess you hear weirder things when you're a New York taxi driver.

Travis sighs, "Lee?"

I nod. He gazes out the window, with a look of disappointment on his face, like I had just confirmed his worst fears.

"I don't have feelings for him, you know," I tell him, placing my hand on his arm. He looks at me again, right in the eye, with such a serious face that I started to doubt he was a  
true son of Hermes. I realized how stupid I sound. _Hey Travis! I had a crazy flashback about my boyfriend that you used to be jealous of! I know you know, but I don't like him anymore! _

Yeah. Way to play it cool.

"I mean. I did, but it's over now. I'm over him and crazy about you. I'm sorry if you feel… mad or upset, but I just can't help-"

He cuts me off with a kiss.

I still haven't gotten used to kissing him (which is totally normal, I suppose, since we've only officially been going out for 25 hours, 38 minutes, and…45 seconds. Not that I've been counting… 51 seconds.). His lips are warm, pressed against mine and I find my fingers slowly sliding up to his curls.

The cab stops at Travis's building and as we pay the driver, he says, "Get a room, you two." We try not to blush as we get out and he drives away.

"I don't feel mad or upset, Katie. I just know one thing," Travis tells me.

"What?"

"That I love you."

"I know that about you, too."

We smile and my hand slips into his as we go up to his apartment.

"Where's your mom?" I ask, "Still doing the mail?"

"Nope," he replies, "Being a waitress at this restaurant down the street."

"How many jobs does she have?"

"Enough to get enough money for our jail bail fines."

"_Jail?_" I scoff, "You've been to _jail_?"

"Well I _am _a son of Hermes," he replies.

"Not a very stealthy one," I mutter.

"Excuse me?"

"Have you _heard _yourself during Capture the Flag?"

"Point," he mutters, "But it's mainly Connor."

"Yeah, okay."

"It is!"

"Mmmhmm."

"I swear! It's all him."

"Yup."

"No! Seriously!"

"For sure."

"Ugh!"

"Regret dating me?"

He thinks about it for a minute. Should it be taking this long?

"Nope."

"Good."

We step in to the room.

"Where's Connor?" I ask.

"Thievin- I mean shopping!"

"Okay…"

"Now how about that kiss we were so rudely interrupted by?"

I crash my lips to his and once again feel that warmth spreading from my lips to all over me. I lace my arms around his neck and feel my fingers reach his hair (finally!). As Travis deepens the kiss, my fingers go crazy, twisting and untwisting his curls. Our tongues fight for dominance and eventually I let him win. Who cares? I'll get him next time.

Gently, he presses me to a wall and, if possible, the kiss deepens even more.

Yup! Definitely possible.

We're really getting into it when all of a sudden, the door opens and Connor walks in… lip-locked with a pretty brunette. They stumble to the opposite side of the room and he presses her to the wall, as well.

Travis watches, fascinated, and tilts his head to get a better look. I slap his arm and then nervously clear my throat.

Connor whips around and the girl looks like I did when Connor walked in on _us _yesterday.

For a moment, the 4 of us stand, staring in awe.

"Katie?" the girl asks as I ask her, "Nikki?"

"Connor?" asks Travis.

"Katie!" asks Connor.

"Travis!" yells Travis. Typical Stoll.

"Well this couldn't get more awkward," Connor mutters.

For once, I agree.

Travis:

Mega-awkward. That's the word I use to describe the scene.

Then the girl rushes forward to Katie and gives a huge hug.

"Katie-Kay!" she shrieks. "Where have you been the last 2 days? We were supposed to meet yesterday at Starbucks!"

Katie looks surprised.

"Oh. Sorry Niks. I've sort of been…here."

Now the girl Nikki looks surprised. She points to the floor.

"Like _here _here? In this apartment?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. I didn't know you two were _that_ serious!"

Katie and I blushed.

"NO!" she shouted, "I've just been having some… problems. I know Travis and Connor from camp. They took me in and I'm going back to camp with them in a few days."

"A few days?" Nikki shrieks, "You're supposed to stay all month!"

"I'm sorry, Nikki, but things came up and I can't stay with my dad and that step-monster."

"Family issues, then?"

"More or less."

"Tell me the story. The _entire _story."

Katie gave in and they sat down at the table and talked. Meanwhile, Connor and I talked.

"Sorry if I ruined anything, bro," he tells me, "I didn't do it on purpose this time."

"I believe you," I reply.

"You were just making out, right?" he asks, "Like not going further?"

"Dude!" I grit my teeth. "We've been going out for 26 hours, 13 minutes, and… 27 seconds- not that I've been counting-…32 seconds! I'm not going to try anything! Especially after what just happened to her!"

"Good! 'Cause I am _not _ready to be an uncle!"

"Shut up, Connor," I mutter.

He grins.

I look over to the girls where Nikki had one hand over her mouth and another on Katie's shoulder that was shaking a little.

"How'd you and Nikki meet?" I asked Connor.

"Oh, she was just Jake's friend's sister and we met at a party. Jake's throwing one tomorrow night if you hook up with-"

He glanced at Katie.

"Never mind," he finished.

"Yeah. Not hooking up, but I will go with Katie. Is that okay?"

"Yeah! Jake's house has some nice beds in case you and Katie want to-"

"Gods, Connor! Enough! KATIE AND I ARE NOT GOING TO HAVE-"

I noticed Katie and Nikki looking over at us.

"TACOS!" I save. "She doesn't like Mexican food!"

"OKAY!" Connor yells back, "WE'LL ORDER PIZZA!"

The girls gave us strange looks and slowly went back to talking.

"Nice save, man!" Connor says and then he whispers, "But I'm telling you… there is an _awesome _queen in the basement that-"

"Seriously, dude. Shut up."

I walk to the table and find that Katies eyes have tears welled in her eyes and she's shaking a little.

I take her hand in mine and squeeze it. She looks at me and the sadness seems to go away. Hmm. Do I have that affect?

She squeezes back and I smile.

(line break)

As soon as Nikki and Connor leave, I look at Katie and start to blush. Gods, she's so beautiful.

Hey, Katie?" I ask.

"Yeah?"

"Connor's friend, Jake is throwing this party tomorrow night and I was wondering if you wanted to go."

"Of course!" she replied. "Like you said, 'anywhere you go, I follow.'"

"I love you Katie."

"I love you, too, Travis."

**Aww! So sappy! I love Tratie. Hmm. Not much excitement or humor in this one, but it was a sort of romantic one… to pay for the last one. **

**Okay, I know that I said I wanted 100 reviews in my last chapter? Well SCREW THAT! 91 is close enough. Luckily for you, I was very bored tonight and decided to write another chapter. :D :D :D But I ****_do _****expect 100 reviews on this chapter, okay? Just 9 more!**

** PJO Trivia:**

**Okay. The answer to last week's question was timber wolves and hunting falcons. **

**Half credit goes to:**

**TheMidnightElite**

**DaughterofAthena6**

**Full credit goes to:**

**AmainNatan4Ever**

**Demigodling Marauder **

**Congrats to all 4 of you!**

**This chapter's question is: What two rivers does Percy give the sand dollar halves to in The Last Olympian?**

**Review, follow, and favorite with just a click (or several) of a button and make sure to check out my other stories. **

** -27lablover**


	9. Coffee, Nail Polish, and Kakis

**Hey, guys! I'm going to reply to a few reviews real quick. **

**CheapOldRelic: That's actually who I based her on. I love that show. **

**Guest: I appreciate your suggestion, but I'm pretty anti-underage drinking. Thanks anyway. J**

**Lissie48: While I appreciate you're support and suggestion, I don't think that would be a very good idea. At least, not yet. *hint, hint* ;-) **

**Thanks for your reviews! They mean the world to me!**

**Disclaimers:**

**Me: I own Percy Jackson!**

**Leo Valdez: No you don't! I do!**

**Annabeth Chase: Shut up, Valdez. I believe ****_I _****own Percy Jackson. I mean, he's my boyfriend.**

**Jason Grace: Annabeth, we're talking about the series. **

**Annabeth Chase: Oh. Well, in that case, Rick Riordan owns all, you idiots! **

**Rick Riordan: That's right!**

Katie:

_What a small world. _I think.

My best mortal friend, Nikki just so _happens _to be dating my boyfriend's brother. Wow. Might as well throw in something about Nikki's cousin's dog's uncle.

This morning I teach Carrie how to make pancakes. We're careful not to keep the pancakes on there for too long and I have to uncap the syrup for Carrie when she microwaves it.

Connor and Travis aren't up yet, which surprises me. I'd think that the smell of good- ahem- I mean, non burnt, pancakes would draw them in like moths to a light. I guess they did stay up late last night raiding the gumball machine at Walmart (that was the only thing I would let Travis raid). For some reason, those things must have been pretty darn hard to penetrate, because that resulted in a store manager chase back to the apartment.

So, if they were still asleep, then that meant… I could finally get them back for the five years of pranking. Or at least, start to.

"Hey, Carrie," I ask innocently, "Can I wake up the boys?"

She must see through my innocence though, because she smiles mischievously and I realize why Hermes liked her.

"Sure, Katie," she said. "But be careful."

"Okay. Thanks."

I sneak down the hallway and into their room. Connor is sprawled across his bed and Travis is curled up in the middle of his. He's so cute when he sleeps. His snore is just so- Snap out of it, Katie. Eyes on the prize.

I scan the room, ignoring the mess and spy a bookshelf with a bunch of baskets of stuff. I pull out one and look inside. Yup. Definitely a pranking shelf.

There's fake blood, shaving cream, whoopee cushions, basically anything a pranker could ask for.

I decide to go with a classic prank. I pull out a bottle of whipped cream and two feathers.

I gently pull out Travis's hand and squirt some whipped cream on to it and do the same with Connor. Then I take the feathers and stand in between their beds. I flick the feathers across their faces, slowly and wait to see their reactions. Travis's hand flies to his face and whipped cream goes flying. I kick the whipped cream and feathers under his bed and retreat to the doorway.

Some of the whipped cream hits Connor his hand flies to his face to wipe it off.

"Wha?" he mutters.

"Who?" Travis says.

"GARDNER!" they shout in unison.

I run back to the kitchen and lean against the counter casually.

"I take it they're awake?" Carrie asks with a smile on her face.

"I never left. Got it?"

She nods.

"Katie?" Travis asks, walking in the kitchen, shirtless, with Star Wars pajama bottoms and whipped cream all over his face. "Why?"

"Nice PJS" I grin. He looks down and blushes.

"I- uh…"

"Okay. What do you have all over your face?"

"You should be the one telling us that, Kit-Kat," says Connor, walking in with a gray tank top and Simpsons PJ bottoms.

"What is it with you guys and theme PJs? And don't call me Kit-Kat." I ask.

"Well, Kit-Kat. That's not the point," he replies. "Why did you prank us?"

"_Me?_" I mock, "Why would _I_ ever do such a thing?"

"That's what we're asking you!" exclaims Travis.

"One word," I say, "Revenge."

"Oh come on!" Connor whines, "Is this about the time we painted everything green in your cabin, pink?"

"Or when we mowed the grass on your roof?" Travis adds.

"Or read your diary?"

"No!" I exclaim, "Wait- what? You read my _diary_?"

"Dude!" Travis says, turning to his brother, "You read her _diary_? Man, that is low."

"What?!" Connor covers, "I didn't say that. I said… uh... I said…"

"I'll kill you later," I assured. "But I'm hungry now. Let's eat!"

Carrie serves us the pancakes and I have to say, her cooking has really improved. After we sacrifice a little pinch of our food to the gods via candle, we dig in.

"Wow, Mom," says Travis, "These are good."

"Mmmmm…" says Connor.

"Thanks, boys," Carrie says. She looks at her watch. "I'm going to be late to work. Bye guys. Have fun at your party, tonight."

"Bye!" we chorus as she walks out the door.

"Hey, Travis! We've got this really great raiding deal down at the mall," Connor says excitedly. "Do you want to- oh. Yeah. Never mind."

"Yeah," Travis agrees, "Sorry."

"As much as I disapprove of thieving, I'm hanging out with Nikki today, so you guys can do whatever," I tell them.

Their eyes light up.

"Really?" Travis says, looking like a 5-year-old about to get ice cream.

"Yup."

He attacks me with a hug, then picks me up and spins me around. It's really cliché, but I can't help laughing.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he cries.

"Yeah, well, I guess you deserve a little raiding time," I sigh. He puts me down and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

"You're the best," he tells me.

"I know."

"Can I have a hug now?" Connor asks, extending his arms. Stoll…

"Depends on if this diary-reading thing is true?" I say, putting my hands on my hips and giving him and evil look, straight out of Tartarus.

"Whoa!" he says, looking at his invisible watch, "Is it really that late? Time flies when you're eating pancakes,

right? Heh, heh."

As he laughs nervously, bringing his arms back in and backing up, I glance at the clock.

"Holy Hera, queen of Olympus! It really is late. You're right! I have to meet Nikki in 15 minutes!"

"Okay!" Travis says, heading for the door, "Let's go!"

"Travis," I say, "Do you want New York to see your PJs?"

"Ah, no," he replies, blushing again, "What I meant was- uh- that we should get ready first."

"Good idea," I say.

I grab some clothes and head into the bathroom, while Connor and Travis go into their room –thankfully- shutting the door behind them.

I change into a faded "Plant a Tree" shirt, jean shorts (with "light saber" sword in pocket), and tennis shoes. I braid my hair and put in a yellow flower clip. I make sure that my camp necklace- 5 beads- rests under my shirt so people don't question the odd designs.

I meet Connor and Travis at the door and we go down to the lobby. The doorman winks at me as we pass. I give him my signature evil look and he flinches.

We walk to the Starbucks across the street and Travis gives me a hug.

"See you at 5."

"Do you have your phone?"

"Yes."

"Is it turned off?"

"Sheesh, Kates you sound like my mom! Yes."

I sigh.

"Don't call me- you know- I give up. Bye, Travis."

There's a pause.

"And Connor," I mutter.

"Bye, Kit-Kat!" he chirps and takes off down the street.

"Don't call me that!" I yell after him. What? I'm not caving twice!

Travis gives me quick peck and races after his brother shouting, "WHAT HAPPENED TO TAXIS?"

Stoll.

For once, I say it in a positive way.

I walk in to Starbucks, just as Nikki's getting in line. I creep up behind her and whisper, "Nikki!"

She jumps a foot and then whips around.

"Katie!" she protests, "You're lucky I didn't scream. Don't _do _that!"

I grin.

"Okay, Niks."

We order our coffee and sit down. We talk about everything: clothes, shoes, gardening, camp, and most importantly: boys.

"So," I ask, sipping my latte, "How did Connor sweep you off your feet?"

She blushes.

"He is so romantic!" she sighs, "Have you ever noticed?"

I feel the blush rise to my cheeks. Her dreamy expression fades in to an embarrassed one.

"Uh. I mean… That came out wrong. You know, with you and… yeah," she stammers.

I laugh a little and she joins in.

"Anyway," she continues. "We were at a party and he came up to me and was all like, 'Hey, there. Wanna' dance?'"

"Really romantic," I mutter, "The words of Romeo, himself."

"Shut up," she replies, "It sounded better in my head."

"Sorry," I say. "Go on."

"Okay," she continues, "I was like 'Sure. Cool. Yeah. Whatevs'"

"Wow," I say.

"Yeah, yeah," she replies, "Anyway, we danced a slow song and I was like speechless-"

"For once," I laugh.

"I am seriously going to tape your mouth shut!" she cries, "_Anyway, _at the end, he asked me if I wanted to go out sometime and I was like-"

"Hey, girls," another voice says. I sigh. Not him! I look up to see Ryan looming over our table.

"Hello, Ryan," I say, my voice emotionless.

"Hi Katie," he replies and- rudely - pulls up a chair.

"What do you want?" Nikki asks.

"Why would I ever want anything?" he defends.

"Because every time you come over here, it's either to hit on us or ask for something," I say.

"Okay, luckily for you, Katie Garder-"

"It's Gardner," I interrupt.

"Potato, Patato," he dismisses. "I have picked _you _to be my lucky date to Jake's bash, tonight."

"I'm sorry, Ryan," I tell him, not feeling one bit sorry. "I'm already going with my _boyfriend_."

I didn't really have to tell him that I had a boyfriend, as it was a little harsh, but it felt so good seeing his face contort in to disbelief, horror, and then rage.

Sadly, then it turned to humor. He started to laugh.

"Oh, Katie, we both know that you don't have a _boyfriend_!"

"I do so!" I say back.

"Who?" he asks, tauntingly.

"Travis Stoll."

He laughs even harder.

"Now, why would a girl like _you_ go out with a guy like _him_?" he chuckles, as if making a joke.

All of my blood seems to rush to my ears, drowning out any outside noises, and a red-hot lump of anger and annoyance rises in my throat.

I slap his face… hard.

"Travis is 3 times the guy you'll _ever _be!" I shout. "Come on Nikki, let's go."

As soon as we leave, Nikki jumps 3 feet and shouts, "That was awesome!"

"What are you? A little 8-year-old who just saw _Iron Man_?" **(A/N: Okay, I totally wanted to do that when I saw it.)**

"Seriously!" she says, "It was like watching a movie. You were all like *slap* 'you suck' and 'let's go'. Whoa… just- whoa."

"It was kind of awesome, wasn't it?" I ask, letting out my inner-kid.

"Heck, yeah!"

I laugh.

"Wait!" she shouts. "You're going to Jake's party with Travis?"

"Yup."

"Let me rephrase. You're going to Jake's party with Travis like _that_?"

"Excuse me?"

"Next stop: clothes store."

"NOOOO!" I moan.

"YEEESSSS!" she moans back, imitating me.

(linebreak)

I sit down in a nail chair in the salon. The putrid smell of nail polish fills the air.

"Nikki," I protest. "Why we doing this?"

"For fun," she replies, skimming through a _People _magazine. "Mani-pedis are the best!" **(A/N: Ack! No they aren't! I like painting my own nails! Like the ones I just did yesterday. They're black with little glitter stars, comets, and planets. Super cool. Love astronomy.) **

"That's what you think," I mumble. She gives me a little shove from her chair and smiles.

"Get something to match your new outfit," she tells me.

"The one we spent hours looking for?"

"The very one."

Even thought it took _forever_ to find a perfect outfit, I did manage to find something that was nice, but not too over the top. I liked it.

"What do you want, miss?" asks my nail lady.

"Umm, I was thinking this shade of green with purple flowers on the thumbs and big toes," I tell her, holding out the bottles of nail polish I picked out.

"Nice choice," she remarks.

"Thank you," I reply, as she starts cleaning and filing my fingernails.

I actually have a lot of fun chatting with Nikki, reading magazines, and just relaxing. It's very nice to take a break from life like this. As much as I love fighting monsters, working in the strawberry fields, riding Pegasi, and sword-fighting my boyfriend, I need a little Katie time.

We pay the nail ladies and spread our fingers apart as the polish dries.

I look at the clock. 2:23pm.

"We have 2 and a half hours until I'm supposed to meet Travis back at his apartment," I tell Nikki, "What now?"

Travis:

"Wow," Connor sighs as we sit down in the food court, "What a raid!"

"Yeah!" I reply, "Did you see that guys face, when we got past the ink thing?"

"Priceless!"

We laugh a while and then Connor's phone buzzes. He turns it on and looks at his text.

"Dude," I say, "Do you _want _to attract monsters."

"Chill out," he replies, "I had Jake Mason plate it with Celestial bronze. It's for you anyway. From Nikki."

He looks a little miffed about it, but he passes over the phone.

_Connor-_

_Give this to Travis._

_Travis-_

_Wear something sharp tonight, but not anything over the top. No tuxes and no suits. Just something nice. _

_-Nikki_

_P.S. Message from Katie: No more stealing. _

"Dang it!" I say. "No more raids. Katie says so."

"You won't do it because Katie says so?" Connor asks, a little hurt.

"It's not you, bro. It's just- her plants. I shudder whenever I think about them."

"Yeah. She scares me sometimes."

"I like that she can whip somebody's butt, though. Even mine. It shows her independence."

He shrugs.

"What are you going to wear?"

"I don't know. I guess I don't want to upset Nikki and I want something that Katie would like."

"How is she with kakis?"

(linebreak)

"How do I look?" I ask, coming out of the room.

"Dashing, sir," Connor replies.

I look at myself in the mirror. I'm wearing knee-length kakis, sandals, and a white and green plaid shirt. I managed to comb my hair so it looks okay.

There's a knock on the door and a voice comes from outside of it.

"Travis? Connor? It's Katie."

"I'll get it," Connor offers.

I smooth out my shirt and take a nervous breath which is stupid considering she's my girlfriend.

I walk to the door which Katie now stands in front of.

Wow.

She wears a green blouse that matches her eyes with darker green vine prints and purple flowers, white knee-length denim shorts, sandals, and a purple flower clip. She's also wearing light green eye shadow and a thin layer of lip gloss.

"Nikki?" I asked.

"She's very persistent," she admits.

"You ready?" I ask.

"Yup."

"Let's go."

The three of us go down through the lobby and out the door. Katie and I hail a taxi and so does Connor.

"See you guys there!" he shouts across the typical New York noise.

"See ya!" we shout back, as we get in the taxi.

"Take us to Tipton building, please," I tell the cabbie.

We're silent on the way there. We just hold hands and stare out the windows.

When we get there, we pay the driver. We go in and hold the door open for Katie.

"Thanks," she says.

"No problem, Kates," I reply.

She rolls her eyes.

"Let's party," I say.

**Yeah! I hope the Party Ponies don't show up! No, seriously. That would suck.**

**Wow, guys! 114 reviews! I love you people! Whee! We're in triple digits now, y'all. Yee haw! (I'm not from Texas) So, thank you, thank you, thank you! I feel like a 5-year-old about to get ice cream and a 8-year-old that just watched ****_Iron Man._**

**The answer for the last trivia is: The East and Hudson Rivers.**

**Congrats to:**

**The Sole Survivor **

**GeekyGirlMeow**

**DragonCrusader**

**TheMidnightElite**

**Lady Loophole**

**Whatupmypeeps**

**Guest **

**LagoonaBlue**

**1 PERCY JACKSON **

**Trivia question of the chapter: What is Hebe the goddess of?**

**Okay. That's it for this chapter. Thanks for reading. Make my day by reviewing, favoriting, and following and make sure to check out my other stories. **

**-27lablover**


	10. VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE

**VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!**

**Hey peeps! I'm sorry this isn't a chapter, I just started school so I'm kind of busy. Anyway, the point is THE GOVERNMENT IS THREATENING TO SHUT DOWN WEBSITES LIKE AND INCLUDING FANFICTION! This is totally injust considering that all we're using this website for is to express ideas and unleash imagination. We're not in it for the money! Are we?! **

**Now! WHOEVER AGREES that this is TOTALLY INJUST and NEEDS TO BE PUT TO A STOP, go to **

** .gov (slash) petition (slash) stop-sopa-2013 (slash) LMzMVrQF **

**THis is totally ridiculous and we have the RIGHT to express our creativity and share it with the world. Now who's with me? If you are, sign the petition RIGHT NOW! We have less 16,000 more to go until the deadline of September 21st. So spread the word! Post this on your profile, include it in your stories' author notes, PM people, or do anything you can think of. **

**Here's some info from the website:**

**_In 2012 the Online Privacy Act was brought forth to congress to be passed which would have negatively affected everyone on the internet as a whole. The people fought back and it never happened. Several times now since then it was revised under a different title with changes and tweaks to the wording to again try to get it to pass without the general public knowing about it. Each time it was found out, and then repealed._**

**_Here we are in 2013 and again dealing with a portion of SOPA, this time the streaming of copywritten works is at the forefront of this particular law to be. If a particular stream contains any copywritten material of any sort the uploader and creator of said content can be found guilty and automatically placed in prison for years on felony charges._**

**_Let's end this for good!_**

**You see? This is BAD NEWS! But we can help prevent it! Just go to the website, sign up, and sign that petition! Tell me in a review or a PM if you did it and I shall reward you with an extra long chapter if I get at least 15 people to do that. **

**So for the people who usually skip to the end instead of reading the whole thing, here's the bottom line:**

**GOVERNMENT MIGHT SHUT DOWN FANFICTION**

**YOU NEED TO HELP**

**SIGN THE PETITION AT THE WEBSITE ABOVE**

**REVIEW STATING THAT YOU SIGNED IT**

**IF I GET 15 REVIEWS LIKE THAT I WILL REWARD YOU**

**SPREAD THE WORD AND TELL OTHER PEOPLE**

**Got it?**

**#fanfictionforever**


	11. Parties and Hospital Beds?

**First of all, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all the people who signed the online petition to stop SOPA who include:**

**Lolcatzlola**

**SwiftieClaire**

**Ks is awesome**

**Vans321**

**Guest**

**Fangurlinit**

**Chintz**

**FanfictionLiker**

**Fabgirl101**

**You all are awesome! #fanfictionforever**

**Now, I know I didn't get 15 reviews, but Zeus's toga, I don't care! My dear reader, chintz has also gotten their friends to do it, as I know other people have done. So as a reward to all you awesome people out there, I give you, the next chapter. **

**Katie: **

As we step in to the elevator, my heart seems to beat out of my chest.

Sure I've ridden winged horses, battled a bunch of monstrous nasties, and fought in a war, but high school parties? Forget it. I was about as clueless as a naiad out of water.

As we near the top, I grab Travis's hand. He squeezes it in a reassuring "I know" way, but out of the corner of my eye, I see him smirk.

As the elevator dings and the doors start to open, I brace my self for the worst: people swinging around on chandeliers, loose zoo animals running amok, or drunk teens playing with guns, but what I find isn't that at all.

Semi-loud music plays through the room, the popular "oh, I love this song!" music, not obnoxious punk rock music that my friend Thalia seems to love. There's a table lined with yummy party foods, as well as a table for drinks, a large temporary dance floor, a lounge, and DJ table, where a cool-looking mid-thirties guy stands, pumping the beats- or whatever mortals call it now. There _is _a chandelier, but to my relief, nobody is playing a Tarzan and swinging from it.

A guy with sandy blond hair and brown eyes walks up and puts his arm around Travis.

"Hey, Travis!" he says, "Is this the lovely Katie, Connor told me about?"

"Yup!" replies Travis enthusiastically, "Katie, this is Jake."

Jake looks me up and down as if examining a bug pinned to a board. "Not bad, Stoll, not bad at all. Welcome, Kallie."

His eyes drop to a section of me that did _not _make me feel comfortable.

"Hey!" I snap my fingers in his face. "My face is up here. And my name is _Katie_!"

"Yeah, yeah," he mutters, "Sorry, Kelli."

I give him my glare and his cocky attitude may as well just fly out the window and into the traffic of New York City.

"Ah, well, make yourself at home… Katie," he says carefully picking his words. Then he strides off to check out some other girl.

"Um, sorry about that," Travis mutters, "Jake's a nice guy most of the time, but he's definitely more of Connor's friend than mine."

"It's fine," I reply through gritted teeth. "Let's go do something."

We walk over and get some nibble food, as my little sister Rose always calls it. Gods, I miss her.

People offer us beer and other alcoholic drinks, but I refuse. First of all, I'm very anti-drug and anti-alcohol, and second of all, I've seen what caffeine does to demigods and I don't want to find out what _alcohol _does.

We walk around and mingle. Travis introduces me to all his mortal friends and a little pang of jealousy hits me. How much time does he spend with them and not our camp friends? Then I rub it off. He's allowed to have other friends.

It turns out that most of his friends are a lot nicer than Jake and a lot more respectful, too. I meet Jaden, a blue-eyed beauty, who's a songwriter with a dream of becoming a professional musician. If I didn't know better, I'd say she's a daughter of Apollo.

I also meet Tanner, who's just about the only level-headed football player I know of.

Lastly, I meet Lauren who's basically a shy mouse with a big brain. She's one of those, read it- think it-say it-just about any thing type of girls. In other words, she's smart. And pretty, too. She has sleek brown hair, with piercing gray eyes.

I think about Travis's friend group: a musician, a jock, a brainiac, and lastly, a kleptomaniac… _my_ kleptomaniac.

I wonder what I would be considered if I joined. A plantaholic? A gardener girl? That's how I was always labeled at camp.

We talk for a while and get to know each other. Tanner's dad is a retired NFL player and Tanner can't seem to get over how embarrassing it is to him.

"Better NFL player than master gardener," I laugh.

"Seriously?" he asks.

"Yup. My papa bird's the winner of the, oh- so- anticipated- by- about- two- dozen- people NGC."

He looks at me blankly.

"It's the National Gardening Competition. Don't worry, it's totally lame. You're not missing out on anything."

"I thought you loved gardening," Travis asks me, a look of bewilderment spread across his face.

"Yeah, but not gardening on _TV_!" I exclaim. "You never get the full picture, or smell the tomatoes, or have itchy hands from picking okra, or-"

"Die of boredom," Travis yawns. "Yeah. Come on. Let's dance before I fall asleep."

I roll my eyes. "No."

"Come on, Kates! I want to dance!"

"I can't!" I protest.

"Oh, yes you can!" he scoffs. "Come on!"

Against my will, I am pulled onto the dance floor.

"Travis-" I start.

"Come on!" he presses. "You can do it."

I pull away, shaking my head. "No, I can't."

Then a slow song starts to play and couples pair up for the dance. He grabs my hand and won't let go this time. He drags me close to him and looks me straight in the eyes.

"Yes, you can."

"Okay," I give in. I know it's worth it when a grin spreads across his face. I smile a little back and his smile gets even bigger.

I wrap my arms around his neck and tell him, "Just one dance."

He makes a pouty face, but doesn't protest.

He snakes his arms around my waist and I rest my head on his shoulder as we sway back and forth.

"Katie," Travis says after a while.

"Yeah?" I mumble.

"Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?"

"Not that I recall."

"Well… you are the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Hmm. Are you saving that for the future anniversaries you'll miss?"

"I'd say it every day if I had to."

This makes me feel so happy and giddy that I just can't help but kiss him. As my lips almost contact his, I feel a hard impact and Travis and I go sprawling.

I just have time to whip up my head before I see Travis's hit the floor with a sickening _thump_.

**Travis: **

When I wake up, I'm lying in a clean white bed with clean white sheets and a clean white pillow. My first coherent thought: this is _not_ my bed.

Then I notice Katie hovering over me and her smile seems to be even brighter than the bed.

"Travis!" she cries as she hugs me.

"Ow," I moan. "My head."

"Sorry!" she squeaks, quickly releasing me.

I realize that the top part of my head is bandages in white gauze that matches the bed. That's when I realize I'm in a hospital room.

"What happened?" I groan.

Her face darkens.

"Ryan," is all she says.

"_Ryan?_" I ask, "As in Ryan Player?"

She frowns.

"It's Plaughter, actually."

"Oh, yeah. Same person."

"You call him- oh. I see."

"Yeah. That's pretty self-explanatory," I mutter, thinking about the long trail of broken hearts he left behind him. "How do you know him?"

"He keeps pestering Nikki and me at Starbucks. Hitting on us. He actually asked me to the party last night. Idiot."

A wave of panic hits me.

"Wait! _He's _the cute guy at Starbucks?" I exclaim.

"If you take out cute and put in irritating, then yes," she mutters, unhappily.

I can't help but smirk at this comment. Katie notices. She rolls her eyes, but gives a little smile.

"Anyway," I continue, still smug. "What happened with him?"

"When we were dancing, he tackled us. He was pretty drunk."

"That little b-"

"Travis!" she exclaims

"Okay, okay. I'm just want to beat the crap out of him!"

"Done," Katie said nonchalantly. "He's in floor below you."

I couldn't tell if she was kidding or not so I just nodded.

"Are you okay, Katie?"

She sighs.

"Yeah. I'm just tired. I was really worried last night. I saw the blood… and-and you were unconscious and-" she trails off, dropping head to hide her tears.

I grab her hand.

"Hey," I say. "It's okay. I'm fine and you're fine and everyone's fine except Ryan if you beat him up. Then he'd be in pain, so that's fine, too."

She snorts. "Take pleasure in other's pain much?"

I nod, and say, "But not yours."

She smiles.

"You should get some rest," I say as she yawns. She's too tired to argue.

"Okay," she yawns, "As long as you do too."

"Okay," I murmur.

She pulls up a chair next to my bed, still holding my hand, and sits down next to me, closing her eyes with a sigh.

I watch her sleep for a while, before I fall asleep as well.

When I wake up, it's Mom that's in Katie's spot.

"Hey," I say. She turns to me and smiles.

"Hi, honey," she says.

I notice that my head bandage is off and the sharp pain in my head has turned to a very dull throb.

"Where's Katie?" I ask.

"At her friend Nikki's apartment. She needed some sleep."

"Oh, okay."

"Don't worry, sweetie, you'll see her later today. Katie slipped some nectar into your IV, so you've made a 'miraculous' recovery, according to the doctors," she assures.

I snort. "Are we going to camp today?"

"Yeah. I already packed all of your things, including your very important weapons and pranking supplies."

"Thanks, Mom. You're the best."

She ruffles my hair like she used to when I was little.

"I know. I'm sad you have to go but I'll see you in a few months. I had so much fun with you guys this week."

"So did I," I say.

"Thanks, honey. Try to get some more rest. You don't want to fall asleep as you cross the border."

I laugh.

"Will you take us to meet Argus?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about anything. Just go to sleep."

Then she leaves the room, silently shutting the door behind her.

It's not long before I nod off again.

When I wake up for the third time, it's nobody that occupies my room with me. My IV has been taken out and my head feels completely normal.

It's early afternoon, probably, because bright light streams through my west window.

Then my door opens and my mother walks in with Connor and Katie.

"Hey, man," says Connor. "How're you doing?"

"Fine, thanks to some extra help," I reply, raising my eyebrows at Katie, who smiles so mischievously, she could be my sister… which would suck.

Connor grins too. "Hey," he said. "It was a group effort."

I get out of bed, brushing aside Katie's offer of help.

"Let's go check out," I say. "I can't wait to get out of here."

As we walk down the cold hallways Katie shivers and I put my arm around her. She smiles up at me.

"I like it when you're conscious. Try to stay that way?" she asks.

"You bet," I reply.

At Check-Out, one of the nurses asks if I would like a few pills for headaches that might come. I decline, thinking about all the ambrosia that I could steal to take its place.

Katie sees this.

"We'll take the pills," she says.

When we get out of the hospital I don't take my arm away from Katie. She doesn't seem to mind and I certainly don't.

When we get into the car, though, we resort to holding hands, to prevent Connor from being too uncomfortable and my mom from going over the edge with her girl-go-crazy-watching-romance self.

It seems like a short time before we get to where we meet Argus in the outskirts of New York, even though the trip is an hour.

I hug Mom and she ruffles Connor and my hair a little as she holds back tears. She even gives Katie a hug and thanks her for helping her to cook, which I had suspected all along.

"Do you have protection?" she asks for the millionth time?

"Yes," we reply.

"And ambrosia and nectar?"

"Yes."

"And _drachmas_?"

"Yes, Mom!" Connor exclaims. "Can we go now?"

She gives us all another hug and shouts at us to Iris Message her as soon as we get to camp as we get into the van.

When we shut the doors, Argus gives us a smile and raises his eyebrows at the hand-holding. I smile back.

It's another short ride and I can see Peleus's smoke before we even stop the van. As we run to Thalia's Pine, I peer over the edge of Half-Blood Hill and see the camp laid out in the valley.

I look to Katie who has tears of joy and relief in her eyes and still holding hands, we race down the hills, towards home.

**Eeep! Oh how fangirly I get when I write this story! **

**Okay, let's start with reviews. 151! I love you guys! Seriously. I never thought that this story would go that far. It's my first triple-digit story! So thanks for those. I shall be eternally grateful.**

**Trivia Time!**

**The answer to last chapter's trivia was:**

**Youth. Hebe is the goddess of youth. **

**Congrats to:**

**Lady Loophole**

**1 PERCY JACKSON FAN **

**August1999**

**Love will always be there**

**Lolcatzlola**

**Eclaire von choc**

**Tratieluver14**

**SwiftieClaire **

**Avamay227**

**TheMidnightElite**

**Sorry I'm inactive**

**Greeksoccerstar**

**Whatupmypeeps**

**DragonCrusader**

**Guest**

**AWESOMENESS **

**This chapter's trivia question is: **

**What did Polyphemus promise to grill Grover and Annabeth with? Here's a clue it's a fruit. Just the name of the fruit will do, but the full thing would be awesome. **

**Until next time,**

**27lablover**


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